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56. Melophobia - Cage the Elephant (2013)

Alternative Rock

Perhaps most evident in the cover artwork, Cage the Elephant’s third full-length album Melophobia signified a marked maturation for the band and a definitive assertion that the success of their early years was no fluke. Maturity often equates to boringness, but this album vehemently embraces all of the youthful spunkiness that characterized Cage the Elephant’s previous work while flexing the control their experience has lent them.

Ironically meaning “fear of music”, Melophobia never deviates far from the squirrely, blues-rock sound the band’s become synonymous with. Frontman Matthew Shultz’s trademark raspy Kentucky-flavored drawl is in full force throughout, while musically, tracks like “Spiderhead” take a page out of The Black Keys playbook. A surprising guest-spot from The Kills’ and The Dead Weather’s Alisson Mosshart on “It’s Just Forever” takes on a careening highway-to-hell feel, with a touch of Tim Burton theatricality. Much in the same way that Modest Mouse seem to find their most successful songs being the least quintessentially “them”, closing track “Cigarette Daydreams” is a stripped down lullaby that ends up taking the blue ribbon, featuring some inspired but unassuming philosophizing while standing in the pouring rain. 

*image; cover art for the album Melophobia by the artist Cage the Elephant