Even On A Cloudy Day

Cage the Elephant's 2nd album, "Thank You, Happy Birthday", contains a wide spectrum of genres, ranging between the extremes of acoustic pop all the way to no-holes-barred punk. I had heard a few of their previous songs on the radio and had expected this disc to be rather one-dimensional; I couldn't have been more wrong. Matthew Shultz and company mix things up throughout, and the results are, well, mixed.

Thank You, Happy Birthday" opens with "Always Something", a quirky, meandering song with a plethora of audio effects and a palatable variety of guitar licks that will slowly (but ultimately) grow on you. Next is "Aberdeen", a screaming rocker reminiscent of the Arctic Monkeys. This song immediately stood out to me as the highlight of the CD, and is one of the catchier rock songs of early 2011. Further along is the uplifting "Shake Me Down", a song about perseverance beginning as an ariose ballad before being interrupted by machine-gun snare drum beats, transitioning into a punchingly raw vocal effort from Shultz, then concluding with a serene guitar hook and the fitting words, "Even on a cloudy day". Also, of note, is the punkish "2024", a tune somewhat reminiscent of the Dead Kennedy's.

Overall, I found "Thank You, Happy Birthday" to be a bit uneven. There are a few "throw-away" tracks, a couple of true pop-punk gems, and some agreeable filler interspersed all over. To me, Cage the Elephant is at their best playing irreverent punk-rock while maintaining a few melodic vocal hooks, but when structure is pushed aside they sometimes breach past the boundaries of being even an acquired taste. Nonetheless, this album is appealing enough for me to look forward to their next offering, and discover where their musical creativity ultimately takes them.