Cage The Elephant are back. Two years after their last album release, "Neon Pill," and fresh off supporting Oasis on their North American reunion tour, the 2 times Grammy-winning rock band returns with "Beaches in Tennessee"! This marks their first single via new label home Big Loud Rock, under exclusive license to Mercury Records.
The track is deeply personal. Built around Brad Shultz's guitar part, it moves between Garage and Indie Rock with a shuffling rhythm, loose bassline, and a refrain that turns the song's central plea into an addictive hook. The chorus hypnotizes you, while Matt sings: "Somebody take me home, they're trying to bury me / I'm going back to those beaches in Tennessee". The production, handled by brothers Justin Raisen and SADPONY (Jeremiah Raisen), whose credits span Charli XCX, SZA, Kim Gordon, and Yves Tumo, stays lean, letting the emotional weight of the subject matter breathe.
That subject matter is significant. As Matt Shultz shared, per his previous interview with NME, the song is a fictionalized account of the mental health crisis he suffered in 2023, when medication-induced psychotic delusions led to his arrest and subsequent three-month hospitalization. "This song for me symbolises me finally being able to move past it," he explained. "It was my attempt at reclaiming the ability to write about something serious that happened in my life, from a place of genuine experience. Having gone through what I did, I'm grateful to have the perspective that I have now […] However, we’re making the best music we’ve ever made. It’s definitely the most inspired!"
What makes "Beaches in Tennessee" remarkable is how it carries all of that weight without collapsing under it. "I hope it helps someone else the way it helped me," Matt adds.
Guitarist Brad Shultz confirmed that Justin Raisen was "at the top of my list" for producers, flying out to Los Angeles to begin collaborating from the earliest stages. The result of that pairing (two pairs of brothers working together) feels fitting for a song about finding your way back to something that feels like home.
The band dropped the brand new single alongside its accompanying Official Visualizer:
With no new album announced yet, "Beaches in Tennessee" stands as both homecoming and opening statement. Proof that more than twenty years in, Cage The Elephant are still finding new ways to make urgency feel effortless.
