One of America’s most potent songwriting talents is set to return with Eels streaming their new album ‘Hombre Lobo’ on their MySpace page.
Really, it’s been too long. Led by celebrated sonic genius Mark ‘E’ Everett, Eels last released an album of original material in 2005. However given that ‘Blinking Lights And Other Revelations’ runs to a total of 33 tracks, perhaps the band deserved a break.
Since then Mark Everett has indulged in a bit of down time, working on his autobiography and releasing a live album alongside greatest hits album ‘Meet The Eels’. Everett’s memoirs focus on his troubled relationship with his father, a renowned physicist.
Capturing the public’s imagination, the book lead to Everett featuring in a celebrated BBC documentary ‘Parallel Universes, Parallel Lives’. Everett’s father sadly killed himself in the mid 80s, before Eels were even formed.
Released as ‘Things The Grandchildren Should Know’ the book was celebrated as a cut above the average pop star autobiography. A celebrated songwriter, we could have expected no less from Everett.
With that period of retrospection behind him, E has been able to focus on working with Eels again. The band contributed a total of nine songs to the soundtrack of a recent Jim Carrey comedy ‘Yes Man’, with one song ‘Man Up’ being entirely new.
The band went on tour last year, with Everett being joined by long time member The Chet. The pair played a number of intimate shows, performing songs from throughout the band’s career with The Chet reading excerpts from Everett’s autobiography ‘Things The Grandchildren Should Know’.
Collected as ‘Hombre Lobo’ the band’s new album features a Mexican flavour, with Everett keen to flex his songwriting muscles. Lead single ‘The Look You Gave That Guy’ comes complete with an intriguing new video, featuring lead singer E smoking heavily with an enormous beard.
Album title ‘Hombre Lobo’ translates as ‘werewolf’ and is thought to be a reference to Everett’s new found love of facial hair. The songwriter first grew a beard when writing the track ‘Dog Faced Boy’.
Eels will stream their new album ‘Hombre Lobo’ on their MySpace page. The album is live now, and will remain on the site until June 1st when the album becomes commercially available.
