The beloved alternative rock staple Cage the Elephant excited fans with new music and summer tour dates five years after the release of their previous album.

The band dropped the single “Neon Pill” on Jan. 19 after doing surprise teasers on its Instagram. The single carries the same name as the band’s upcoming album and displays cover art depicting a neon pink wave splashing against a rocky shore from the atmospheric artisan Neil Krug, who has also done work for Tame Impala and Lana Del Rey.

The song follows what can only be described as the conventions of Cage the Elephant’s classic sound, using poetic yet grungy lyrics to bridge love and tragedy, all while being placed upon a danceable yet quirky musical arrangement. 

Cage the Elephant released another single called “Out Loud” on Feb. 29, which is also from the unreleased album and dons even more cover art by Krug.

While Cage the Elephant loves to mix bittersweet lyrics with a faster-paced beat, “Out Loud” brings complete rawness and solemnity with no guise of upbeatness, arguably when the band is at its best.

Cage the Elephant’s 2017 “Unpeeled” album, which involves an acoustic remastering of the best of their discography, highlights how much the band shines when completely vulnerable, “Right Before My Eyes” being the shining example. 

“Out Loud” describes an individual who, on a whim toward self-discovery, leaves another behind. In the song, this individual recounts what they left behind with regret and is forced to admit their fault to themself.

Cage the Elephant’s lead singer, Matthew Shultz, sings, “With angry wings, I flew out of that town

I promised you I’d never turn around / Chasing down a dream / Like a shadow in the breeze / From a thousand miles away / Wish you were right in front of me.”

This song perfectly captures the idea of taking risks to pursue your dreams and how this attempt to preserve this ideal future can hurt those around you. 

“Out Loud” also displayed beautiful vocals from Cage the Elephant’s lead singer, Matthew Shultz.

Shultz’s life was also able to add its own context into the song, as the singer was arrested in 2023 after an “utter mental health crisis.” This offers a new layer to the guilt and self-reflection expressed in this song. 

Commenting on the upcoming record as a whole, Shultz said, “To me, ‘Neon Pill’ is the first record where we were consistently uninfluenced, and I mean that in a positive way. Everything is undoubtedly expressed through having settled into finding our own voice. We’ve always drawn inspiration from artists we love, and at times, we’ve even emulated some of them to a certain degree. With this album, having gone through so much, life had almost forced us into becoming more and more comfortable with ourselves. We weren’t reaching for much outside of the pure cathartic experience of self-expression, and simultaneously not necessarily settling either. We just found a uniqueness in simply existing.”

On the same day that “Out Loud” was released, the band also released info about their 45-date summer tour, where they will perform alongside Young the Giant and Bakar.

Cage the Elephant will perform in Rogers at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion on July 15.

Singles “Neon Pill” and “Out Loud” are available to stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and other services. Cage the Elephant’s full album is set to release May 17.