The latest Cage the Elephant record is the long time culmination of their entire career. Mixing their style from the early days of their career, reminiscent of their 2008 break-out hit “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” to 2013’s “Cigarette Daydreams.” While also evolving from their last record Social Cues, which received a Grammy win for Best Rock Album in 2020. Neon Pill rides the wave of the band’s previous successes while also balancing heartfelt lyrics expressing loads of the inner turmoil Matt Shultz and the band were experiencing.
Background
Neon Pill was born out of turbulent times both in the world and for the band personally. Following difficult times with the Shultz brothers (Matt- vocals and Brad- guitar) loosing their father and Matt’s arrest and hospitalization.
Matt Shultz was prescribed a slew of medications and they seemed to have an interaction that caused a fit of psychosis. The psychosis, or as Shultz’s refers to it, “a completely different person” led to his arrest for weapons possession. This lead Shultz to seek mental health treatment and detox to figure out what medication was causing these issues.
“It’s shocking how night and day the difference is from being on whatever medication is causing psychosis and being off of it… As I got off the medication, I went back to my normal self. And that was very odd because it was like having your life hijacked by another person.”
Matt Shultz, Mark Kennedy AP News
After hospitalization and outpatient therapy, Shultz began looking through the music he had been creating at the time and untangling the lyrics to create the album.
Going back into the studio with the same producer the band worked with for Social Cues, John Hill, the band were pushed to create the very best album possible.
“It was very much like a culmination of all the Cage records combined”
Matt Shultz, Mark Kennedy AP News
The band’s hard work is paying off with the album entering the US Billboard 200 and peaking at 57. They also entered the US Top Rock and Alternative Albums on Billboard and peaking at 15. And fans might even expect the band’s 4th Grammy nomination this year.
Music Videos
The lead single and title track of the album “Neon Pill” was released on January 19th of 2023. This was the first music the band had released since 2019’s Social Cues.
“Neon Pill” generated major success for the band, reaching number 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Airplay Chart.
The second single, “Out Loud” was released on February 29th coupled with the band’s album announcement. You can read more about the track further in the “Themes” section of this article.
The third single, “Good Time” was released on April 5th.
The fourth and final single, “Metaverse” was released May 3rd.
In an interview with NPR, Shultz dove in more on the creation of “Metaverse” and opening up to collaboration for the track.
“It’s an interesting song. It’s one of the first songs where we’ve opened up the music to collaborate on. And there’s an artist out of New York who goes by Danny Switchblade. He put together a mix tape and sent it over. And lyrically, it’s kind of like this – I don’t know if I’d say a coming-of-age, but it’s a song of being on this journey and finding yourself within that in spite of any turbulent times in between.”
Matt Shultz, Scott Simon NPR
Themes
The overarching theme of this record is grief, but not always in the stereotypical sad way. Shultz uses this record as a way to atone for past mistakes as well as process the loss of his father.
The track “Out Loud” tells the story of Shultz’s father fighting with his father leading to a strained relationship and holding some regrets.
The last track, “Over Your Shoulder” is a more blatant form of mourning and grief over Shultz’s father, but it still has a hopeful view. As Shultz says, “Don’t look back over your shoulder/I’m not saying don’t ask/When it feels like it gets colder/Every season will pass.”
“Neon Pill” is one of the few tracks that seems to more clearly articulate Shultz’s state of mind while he was struggling with his mental health. The lines in the song also hold a level of reflection after getting sober and getting mental health treatment. Specifically, Shultz says, “Double-crossed by a neon pill/Like a loaded gun, my love/I lost control of the wheel.”
Shultz also shared that “Neon Pill” came from a place of concern and fear. Thinking that someone was possibly poisoning him.
“I wrote it because I was convinced someone was actually tampering with my medication and trying to poison me. It’s very sad because it’s so close to the truth but not quite there. It’s almost like I knew something was wrong and that it was the medication, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.”
Matt Shultz, Scott Simon NPR
Tour
You can catch Cage the Elephant on the “Neon Pill Tour” this summer, with support from Young the Giant, BAKAR, and Girl Tones. Tickets are still available on the band’s website.
You can also check out more of what Cage the Elephant is up when they are not on tour here:
