Life doesn't get any better for singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as E, as he digs deep into his heart to look for something recently lost.
Though Eels eighth album "End Times" is being released just six months after their last album, E has a lot to say about his uncertainty of the future.
He parallels this album to "the state of the desperate times we live in." "Who can you trust?" he asks. "Walter Cronkite is just a ghost."
The album is yet another sorrow filled statement, staying true to its title with ballads about broken relationships and heartache.
"The Beginning" is a short intro pinpointed at romantic nostalgia towards how "Everything was beautiful and free/In the beginning".
The second track "Gone Man" is the most upbeat song on the album with a swing-like tune.
The album then takes a gloomy turn with "In My Younger Days" which is not just a breakup song, but a description of the uncertainty in never finding that person again.
"Little Bird" and "A Line of Dirt" are both melodious but quiet songs pondering what could have happened with a certain girl. "Apple Trees" is a forty-second storytelling piece sounding like a clip out of an interview. "I Need a Mother" is a solitary Everett sulking with his piano.
Everett's 14-piece album was partially recorded on a four-track in his Los Angeles home giving the songs the more personal but lonesome feel of E sitting alone in his basement reading his diary out loud.
His literal lyrics and aching melodies gives "End Times" a straightforward feel as E chronicles another chapter to his story.
3/5
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