| in cold blood – starring: e & els |

a laudation on mark oliver [e!]verett’s entry to the music hall of fame would certainly not contain a lot of flowery & blossomy words. furthermore, no county & hillybilly-friends would walk him on stage, handing him a picking guitar to pick some easy tunes for us all to join in. the oldest veteran of all, neil young, would possibly be shrugging and leaving for some malt beer. nawwh.

eels would rather be decorated with attributes like “raw”, “dull”, “melancholic”..”deep”. “six bucks in my pockets / shoes on my feet / first step is out the door / and onto the street” (the turnaround – eels). full stop.

what is it then, he himself implies? whats our access, what’s the story he unreveils in our ears? i think, we have to go back to the very first days we saw this guy in the late eighties. when he sang “novocaine for the soul”. anachronism tried to tell us, that god might have dared to send another one of his sons. long beard, cutting voice, heavenly quiety & calmness. uncovering melodies from their rusty, stony cover, they open to be astonishingly glittery and smooth. the chords are precisely placed.

the new album “wonderful, glorious” – his tenth studio album by the way – contains such hideous treasures made out of simply arranged chords and his cold blood voice. take “true original” for example. the straight major-minor-shift in the chorus happens to take the song far out of mediocrity. or “peach blossom”, a reminiscence on his late 90s-sound, that slightly reminds of ben folds distorted bass-orgy when rocking the suburbs. he reaches out for the big swing it seems on this album. and if it won’t swing, then it will serve for some nostalgic chatter with bud and buddies. “on the ropes” holds enough memories in spare to shed sarcastic hopes on some long past ones:

“every time i find myself in this old bind / watching the death of my hopes / in the ring so long / gonna prove ‘em wrong / i’m knocked out but i’m on the ropes / i’ve got enough fight left inside this tired heart / to win this one and walk out on my feet / no retreat / i may never get everything i bet / but i’m a man who always copes / i’m hurting bad / and fighting mad / i’m not knocked out but i’m on the ropes.”

his lyrics, though, seem to have taken a slow but hardly visible turn from the battlefield of nihilism to the pacifist storm troops: “bombs away shriek holler and shout / and if you’re not ready then you better get out now”.

album: wonderful, glorious
artist: eels
label: vagrant / cooperative / universal
released: feb. 2013

we salute you with: 4/5