About Melophobia by Cage the Elephant Album
Melophobia is the third studio album by American rock band Cage the Elephant. Recorded at St. Charles in Nashville, Tennessee and produced by Jay Joyce, the album was released on October 8, 2013, through RCA Records. It is also the final album that features lead guitarist Lincoln Parish. For Melophobia, Cage the Elephant attempted to distance themselves from comparisons of the sound that influenced them, shutting themselves off from as much recorded music as possible. Melophobia means "fear of music;" the band did not view the term literally, but rather thought of the term as "a fear of creating music to project premeditated images of self, like catering to cool, or making music to project an image of being intellectual or artistic or poetic, rather than just trying to be an honest communicator." Frontman Matthew Shultz viewed the record as a battle "to remain transparent and to remain honest." Isaac Brock (frontman of Modest Mouse) once told his friend Tiger Merritt (of Morning Teleportation) that "if you're not slightly embarrassed to sing the lyrics, you're probably not writing a good song," and encouraged him to refrain from attempting to write poetically but rather naturally. Shultz said this made sense to him. When writing new tracks, Shultz would often doodle an image alongside his lyrics for visual reference. The album debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on its first week of release, with around 18,000 copies sold in the United States. It also debuted at No. 6 on both the Top Rock Albums and the Alternative Albums charts. As of October 2015, the album has sold 174,000 copies in the US.
