With a first offering of new material in four years, this LA-based
outfit led by Mark Oliver Everett offers an album subtitled 12 Songs
of Desire. Desire has many manifestations and it seemed like Eels
had traced all the routes taken, holes fallen down and into, on
previous albums. While at points this album feels like retraced steps,
especially the lonelier, pleading solo tunes, the feelings are
fleeting. The band makes you forget those moments with tunes that
express the tension of desire and when the bounds are broken, as on
crackling songs such as “Tremendous Dynamite,” “What’s a Fella Gotta
Do” and “Fresh Blood.”
This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2009.
