Eels - The Deconstruction, a review

Eels are an institution now, active for nearly a quarter of a century, and here with their 12^th album proper (not to mention countless compilations, live recordings and contributions to soundtracks and tribute albums etc…). Add the fact that a lot their subject matter is about death, lost love, suicide, mental illness, i.e., the institutionalised, and their place as songsmiths for the disaffected and lonely is easy to understand. And here on this album, it is frankly and thankfully, business as usual. Saying that makes it sound like I don’t wish E peace and happiness, of course I do, though its doubtful this art would exist as such a crucial happening.

Opening with the delicate and ornate title song ‘The Deconstruction’,  we can tell we are listening in to an on the spot Eels album. Soothing chamber pop with shuffling beats, and Beatle-esque middle eight vocals, it’s a great track. No, there’s no new ground broken, but you don’t buy Eels records to hear them take on hip hop or something. It’s just a bonus if they do decide to do that. ‘Bone Dry’ is able to include couplets like ‘In my dream I see you there, your eyes fixed in a vacant state’ and a chorus of ‘Bone dry, you drank all the blood’ with ‘Sha la la’s’ and ‘Shooby dooby dooby do’s’. It’s what sinister unsettling pop should do, knock you about in all directions and still leave you feeling that you know exactly where you’ve been.

Some instrumental passages/numbers punctuate the album in short bursts, not an essential move but one that suits the mood. ‘Premonition’ shows the light/dark feel of Eels perfectly, a hymnal gentle guitar motif with choral like backing vocals under the hook ‘I had a premonition, it’s all gonna be fine, you can kill or be killed, but the sun’s gonna shine’. If you’ve not read any of main man Mark ‘E’ Everett’s musings on his life and the troubled family history he has come through, then you really should (’Things The Grandchildren Should Know’). A short, not physically taxing read that has a weight that makes a feel of a much larger book, his well-written prose is a perfect companion to virtually any Eels release.

The music throughout is both informed by the modern whilst pinioned by nostalgic tips of the hat. Strings are heavy, choral subtexts never far from the surface, without ever feeling saccharine or trite. And moods swing, the mellow, funereal ‘The Epiphany’ leaps straight into the pop blast of ‘Today is the Day’, handclaps, riffs and twee keyboards. This jaunty little number leads into ‘Sweet Scorched Earth’, ‘I love the way your hair falls on your eyes, and the way the sun hits them as it dies, there’s poison in the water and the sky’. This is Eels, I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is all wrapped up in an orchestral chamber pop package that sounds like it’s being played by angels.

But negatives are always counter balanced with hope and a positive. Birdsong interlude is followed by ‘Be Hurt’. ‘Come on be hurt, you know you can take it’ is finished with ‘and I’m not gonna let it destroy you’. E has really become the perfect singer for all this bitter sweetness. His delivery is always assured and concise. The following track declares ‘in your darkest night of the soul, you are the shining light’ over more handclaps and a Motown beat’. ‘There I said It’ is basically ‘I Love you, there I said it’ as a song, albeit a morose piano ballad song.

‘Archie’ is a lullaby for E’s son, born when his father was 54. At 55 now, E and Archie’s mother have divorced. The final filmic instrumental ‘The Unanswerable’ should have bled (instead there’s a pause) in to the closing ‘In Our Cathedral’, a battening down of the hatches manifesto. This is Eels first album in four years, quite a gap for a prolific artist/band. They’re on such great form here that I hope that either they don’t take four more to return, or if they do then that record is as considered and finely crafted as this one, a truly latter day classic Eels album.

9/10

The Decemberists – ‘I’ll Be Your Girl’ - a review.

The Decemberists from Portland, Oregon return with their eighth album. Wikipedia quotes them as an ‘indie pop/baroque pop’ band, I’ve always found them a bit folk rocky with emphasis on the indie rock side. This album sees more modern pop sounds take a leading role, mainly through synths being higher up in the mix. On lead single ‘Severed’ I felt this watered down their identity a bit, but the good news is that the album works with any new designs adding to the bands character. 

The bands songs have always taken a story telling approach and their best songs have often had a darker edge (Listen to ‘The Rake’s Song’ from 2009’s ‘The Hazards Of Love’) and last year they released the magnificent ‘Ben Franklins Song’ as part of the ‘Hamildrops’ mixtape project linked to ‘Hamilton’ the Broadway musical. It was a magnificent snarly aggro pop gem, sweary and angsty and an instant classic. This new album deals in part with the feeling of despair, depression and absurdity of the US 2016 election result that many Americans felt in the aftermath.

Leading off with second single ‘For Once In My Life’ a pacey strummed acoustic guitar leads to a fairly familiar sounding Decemberists song, albeit underpinned by fairly Brit sounding synths and with a slightly simpler lyric than many a song by the group. ‘Cutting Stone’ lyrically is more traditional fare for the band, a fluid bass line underpinning a simple beat song again punctuated by balanced synth melodies. ‘Severed’ starts like an early OMD song and sounded quite alarming as the albums first single. Here on the album it compliments the mood of the record as an overall and whilst not falling into ‘classic’ status it certainly makes more sense than it did as a standalone track. The synthy feel on the songs so far evokes for me a feel of latter-day Arcade Fire too. 

‘Starwatcher’ is a military beat driven percussive monster with hint’s of Led Zep lyrically. ‘Tripping Along’ is a lusty and romantic near ballad, ‘Your Ghost’ a stalkerish psych out that for some reason reminds me of Terry Hall’s post Fun Boy Three group The Colourfield. ‘Everything Is Awful’ raises the bands baroque pop flag, whilst ‘Suckers Prayer’ is perhaps the most traditionally American rock the band have ever been, we’re almost treading in ‘The Band’ territory, the prayers refrain… ‘I want to love somebody, but I don’t know how…I want to throw my body in the river and drown’.

On first hearing ‘We All Die Young’ I had to check that Suzi Quatro didn’t have a co-write credit as it’s almost a re-write of ‘Can The Can’ or something, and it’s magnificent. The most pop moment here, a trashy glam stomp that’s pretty out of character but all the more memorable for it. ‘Rasulka, Rusalka/Wild Rushes’ is a slow burner gradually climbing to a climax tale of compulsion and longing whilst blind to the  danger laying ahead. It’s two songs carefully melded into one and is a second album highlight in a row. Then the album closer and title track slopes in, like the opener the vocal over strummed guitar with some tweeness in its instrumental middle section.

Throughout the album songwriter Colin Meloy’s vocal entices and holds interest which is a constant through the Decemberists recorded catalogue. This might not be the bands best work, but it is a well balanced and consistent collection, if you miss classic REM or are searching for pop along the lines of the Divine Comedy and have not checked out the Decemberists before, then I heartily recommend that you give ‘I’ll Be Your Girl’ a go.

8/10

Also, because, why not, here's  a classic Decemberists song.