It was announced in February that Cage The Elephant and Beck would embark on a co-headlining tour together (alongside Spoon and other special guests), and that felt like a great fit. Both have had much success in the indie/alternative rock space, and their styles seem compatible. Now the two have proven that latter point to be true, as Cage The Elephant have shared the Beck-featuring song “Night Running,” which is taken from the band’s upcoming album, Social Cues.
Sure enough, the track lies somewhere in the middle of both artists’ universes. The head-bobbing groove and near-rapped verses from Beck feel very much taken from his realm, while the bluesy rock hook from Matt Shultz ties the whole thing together, making for a cohesive and adventurous experience.
Shultz previously said the album was written during the end of a relationship:
“It can be a vehicle to act out things that are hard to confront. When I’m creating, I try to put myself in a reactive state of improvisational thought. I let images just arise in my mind and wait for it to evoke an emotional response and then when it does, I know I’m on to something. I was watching a lot of Fassbinder films, like World On A Wire and The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant. I was thinking about their beauty coupled with the graphic surrealism of Aronofsky.”
Listen to “Night Running” above.
Social Cues is out 4/19 via RCA Records. Pre-order it here.
