E is not going to retire

The leader of the American post punk band Eels E, the real name of whom is Mark Oliver Everett, is a serious musician for a long time. He puts all the pain and desperation of the life’s strikes into the music of his command. The disc Blinking Lights And Other Revelations was the most spectacular in this matter, as E wrote all the songs with his deceased mother and sister in thoughts. However, the musician can suffer or be in depressions as long as he wants to, but he is not going to retire. The proof to it is the new album by Eels – End Times. There is such an opinion that the poet must be either idle or unhappy in order to create really touching poems. It is hard to oppose to this statement, listening to the tracks of End Times. The songs are written from the bottom of Mark Oliver Everett’s heart – and this heart is broken and tortured by many losses. Well, this disc by Eels can be called the bitterest and ultimately sincere in the whole discography of the band, if not the gloomiest one. And the disc is sure to be loved by the devoted fans of Eels, who witnessed all the highs and lows by the band with stoicism – and it is no secret that each work by Å balances between triumph and failure at its release due to the daring ideas and experiments. Thus, they were criticized by George Bush Junior for the hit It's A Motherfucker, while in order to support one of the discs E went on the scene in the image of a terrorist.

End Times expresses complicated emotions with plain words

The bitter balladry pieces by E have always been good due to their capacity to explain unutterable feelings and emotions in plain, understandable words and expressions. Thanks to these songs, the listeners of Eels could also fetch the words to explain their own awes, losses or hollowness. The album opens with the laconic rock track The Beginning – the minor-feeling description of the family life. The middle-tempo sorrowful composition Gone Man shows us a person, who remembers all of his missteps and understands that he ruined his life all by himself. It is followed in the logical order by the track In My Younger Days, in which E reminds of his youth with all its naivety and belief in the happy end. We can suppose that the character of the first noticed song is the desperate and drunk former youngster from the second song. The ballad A Line In The Dirt is one of the classical Eels’ number – it possesses a beautiful, charming with its fatalism lyrics and a gorgeous tune. The titling composition End Times is filled with bitterness and is a speculation by E on the topic of his divorce which took place not long ago. The middle of disc is an unusual monologue Apple Trees, in which E tells us an anecdote, funny and sad at the same time, and it goes about an apple garden, and he compares people to trees. It is followed by two strong and piercing compositions - Paradise Blues and Nowadays. The track I Need A Mother does not need introduction for those, who know the story of Eels – some time ago Everett lost his mother and still can not overcome that loss.

The ideal solitary

The new disc by the collective was released only in six months after Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs Of Desire, but it is well-thought out and original – well, actually the same can be said about all the creations by Eels. The disc End Times can be freely called the Everett’s speculations on the topic of his losses – and he had to lose many people and not only in his life, while the last drop was his divorce. Well, the disc has both filling tracks and not really successful, but they all are united by the atmosphere of loneliness, desolation and mourn. However, End Times has its moments of bitter humor. We can freely say that in his solitude the artist writes amazing texts and melodies – End Times can be called one of the strongest works if not the strongest in the whole Eels’ discography. Loneliness became the perfect way to demonstrate the numerous talents on the maximum for this multi-instrumentalist. This amazing rock disc with the elaborated, minimalistic sound will fit both to the long-time fans of Eels and as the background music for any listener, who appreciates solitude, feeling exhaustion and melancholia.

Ninelle Kazakoff
02.02.2010