- Label
- Polydor
- Release date
- 1st June 2009
- Genre
- Rock
- Buy this album
- Order CD
Eels sings of that slippery creature called love.
Mark Everett, the man they call E, has never exactly been afraid of catharsis. His last album, 2005’s double set Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, arrived wrapped in photos of deceased members of his family, while his previous masterpiece, 1998’s Electro-Shock Blues, mourned the loss of his mother and sister in harrowingly intimate detail.
It’s thus tempting to assume that the lovesick Hombre Lobo, an album subtitled 12 Songs About Desire, is an equally autobiographical confessional. This may or may not be the case, but luckily the album works either way as its themes of love unrequited and deep yearning spurned are recognisable enough to be instantly universal.
Over sparse acoustic strums and throbbing garage-rock workouts, E drawls in a wrinkled, careworn baritone of his eternal devotion ("When I say I would die for her, it’s not just words, I really would” – The Longing) or pure animal lust (“God, I want it bad” – Lilac Breeze). The dark humour stops things getting too sickly, and whether E is in love or not, he speaks the language fluently.
More to try:
Beck: Modern Guilt
Tom Waits: Alice
Dashboard Confessional: The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most
