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Album Reviews
Album Review: Eels – Hombre Lobo (Universal/Polydor)
By CMU Editorial | Published on Monday 1 June 2009
Mark Everett, better known as E, seems unable to sing in anything but the first-person. Sometimes he sings as himself, and the results are heartbreaking and intense, like on previous albums ‘Electro-shock Blues’ and ‘Daisies Of The Galaxy’, which dealt with the deaths of various members of his family. When he’s not singing as himself, Everett shifts into various characters, like in 2001’s ‘Souljacker’, and in this album – ‘Hombre Lobo’. E claims that the album is sung from the perspective of an unloved child who’s now grown up, meaning that it deals almost wholly with desire. Tracks like ‘The Look You Give That Guy’ and ‘What’s A Fella Gotta Do’ treat unrequited love with the passion and fire that the subject deserves. It’s only when he strays off-track, in songs like ‘Fresh Blood’, and starts making werewolf howl noises that the whole thing starts to feel a little forced. If you loved Eels and have lost track of what they’re up to, then this isn’t the album to return with – dig out ‘Blinking Lights And Other Revelations’, the twinkly double-album masterpiece of 2006. If you’ve never listened to Eels, then start much, much earlier with the aforementioned ‘Electro-shock Blues’. But make sure that you end up back here eventually, because in the right context it’s superb. DG
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