Cage the Elephant - Unpeeled [2LP]

Cage the Elephant swap fuzz for strings on Unpeeled, a 2017 live album pressed on 140-gram vinyl across two LPs.

Recorded during the band's intimate Live and Unpeeled shows in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Nashville and Knoxville, the set reimagines songs from across their catalogue with a string section and the Emma Kleinberg Singers choir. Ben Baptie produced alongside the band, and Nick Bockrath's string arrangements give familiar favourites a new emotional weight without smoothing away their character.

Cigarette Daydreams becomes even more wistful wrapped in strings, while the songs from Tell Me I'm Pretty reveal how sturdy Matt Shultz's melodies are once the distortion is gone. The band also slips in three inspired covers, Wreckless Eric's Whole Wide World, Daft Punk's Instant Crush and The Stranglers' Golden Brown, each one sounding as if it belonged to them all along.

Twenty-one songs give the record plenty of room to roam, and the live setting keeps everything warm and a little loose, with the kind of hush that only happens when a crowd is truly listening. Hearing these songs slowed down and opened up shows just how much craft was hiding under all that noise.

It's a rewarding side of a band usually known for chaos, and a lovely way to hear their songwriting up close.