Eels
End Times

The biography of Mr. E (Mark Oliver Everett, holder of the name Eels and the only actual member of the band) is a river of drama. The suicide of his sister and the illness of his mother are the protagonists of the excellent "Electro-Shock Blues" (1998), and numerous biographical episodes are scattered throughout the bearded Californian's repertoire.

In 2010 another drama, another album, but fortunately this time it is only the end of his marriage acting as the glue for the songs on the new album, "End Times," released just 6 months after the rockin' and strangely optimistic "Hombre Lobo".

The inevitability of love's failure, a vacuous parenthesis between one loneliness and another, is the main theme of the album, a predominantly acoustic work, conceived in solitude with the fireplace and the dog's howls as background, in addition to the sporadic intervention of Kool G on bass and Butch on drums.

The sparse sounds recall "Daisies of The Galaxy," a watercolor from 2000. As in that album, here too, we find ourselves in the presence of minimal arrangements, economical instrumentation, and whispered singing, elements that raise the suspicion that Mr. E's batteries are running low. However, beside unsuccessful episodes, there are also songs worth noting.

The opening "The Beginning," with its sombrero lowered for the description of a budding love, casts the lure. "Gone Man," a swaggering Dylan-esque rock'n'roll, adjusts the aim of sadness: love has revealed itself for what it is, an epitaph to leave to posterity ("Here lies a man who wanted to be alone") and to dust off in moments of melancholy, like the icy "In My Younger Days".

The pianistic and airy "A Line In The Dirt" has the task of describing a feeling weakened by time that not even a request in the form of a love token can revive.

The quiet "Mansion of Los Feliz" brightens the sky for a moment, and the ragtag blues of "Paradise Blues" is the opportunity to dust off the electric guitar and stretch the vocal cords.

Throughout the album there is no anger or resentment in Everett's words (if you exclude the limp "Unhinged") but a need to return to the origins, as evidenced by the poignant "I Need A Mother" and the meditative "Nowadays". And in moments of desolation without angels, you can find solace in the company of an unusual "comrade" ("Little Bird").

End titles on "On My Feet", a rhyming recount of young E's life where a hint of hope peeks through ("One sweet day I'll be back on my feet and I'll be alright").

In conclusion, this "End Times" is a nice pass for self-indulgent sadness, essential when you feel miserable and alone and need a friend to make you feel special.

"His Sadness" Mark Everett is that friend and draws for you 12 delicate sketches with a blue brush.

Until the next (mis)adventure