Cage the Elephant – Tell Me I’m Pretty (RCA, 2015)
Tell Me I’m Pretty, the newest release from Cage The Elephant, has done away with its psychedelic acid flashback-inducing album covers of yesteryear in favour of a more rigid, standardized look. The music contained behind the stock picture follows this example by sounding a little more rigid and Black Keys-ish than what came before, courtesy of the band’s Dan Auerbach handling production duties in place of usual producer Jay Joyce. These indie darlings still know how to craft a good song but the marketability of the new tracks feels as if it is part of the album’s core DNA instead of by happenstance, as was the case with the group’s previous works. Cage The Elephant’s best releases have long been the ones that dance to the beat of their own drum; Tell Me I’m Pretty however dances to the metronomic sound of the cash register.
Trial Track: “Punchin’ Bag”
7/10
