Cage The Elephant 'Come A Little Closer': First Single Off 'Melophobia' Sees Kentucky Rockers Channeling Bowie

Cage The Elephant have returned with the first single off of their upcoming new album Melophobia and it is an interesting depature from the band's typical brand of balls-out southern fried rawk. "Come A Little Closer" is a spacy number with mellow ahhhs throughout. That's not saying that Cage The Elephant have gone experimental- the track stays grounded in that it sounds like a David Bowie track had Bowie been a member of a Kentucky bar band- but it is a compelling turn from a band known for songs like "Ain't No Rest For The Wicked" and "Back Against The Wall."

According to Cage The Elephant frontman Matt Schultz, transforming from the band on Thank You, Happy Birthday to the one displayed on tracks like "Come A Little Closer" was not easy 

"Melophobia is the hatred or fear of music," Shultz said in an interview with Consequence Of Sound. "The whole process was riddled with adversity and growing pains. I don't want to make it seem like it wasn't rewarding, 'cause there were moments of peace and beautiful grace. But there was no part of the process that was easy. I've always read of musicians that couldn't stand their own music or the sound of their own voice. Now I understand that. To critique something to the point you literally can't do it anymore. To literally go crazy from it." 

However, to hear Schultz tell it, the resulting album is absolutely worth it.

"What made it... super rewarding was the breakthroughs," Shultz says. "Spending months on something and to finally get a chorus or a lyric right, I'd break out in tears. I'd send my brother (guitarist Brad Shultz) sound bites of stuff I was working on, and he'd text me back saying, 'I'm literally jumping for joy.'  

Melophobia drops October 8.