Cage The Elephant

"Tell Me I'm Pretty"

(RCA)

Grade: A

In the middle of Cage The Elephant's fourth album, frontman Matthew Schultz laments, "Got so much to lose/Got so much to lose/God don't let me loose my mind." The Kentucky quintet's first two albums certainly established CTE as a rock 'n' roll comer and undoubtable put some pressure on "Tell Me I'm Pretty," but the group delivers and even exceeds expectations with an artfully stripped-down set of psychedelic-tinged garage rock that certainly benefits from having kindred spirit Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and the Arcs in the production chair. "Tell Me I'm Pretty" is cutting-edge retro, a high-tech lo-fi romp that swings like CTE is playing a hot gig with a bad PA for a basement dance party. Tracks such as "Cry Baby," "Mess Around," "That's Right" and "Portuguese Knife Fight" have plenty of hips and slinky hooks, while "Sweetie Little Jean" has a Mersey charm and "Cold Cold Cold" sounds like a folk-pop gem from the early Hollies. "Punchin' Bag" reels in swaggering white boy R&B, and "Too Late To Say Goodbye" slows things down into rough-hewn blues. Schultz notes early on that, "We all got something to say but talking is a waste of time;" good thing, then, that CTE lets its music do the talking and more than make its point on "Tell Me I'm Pretty."

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