WERS 88.9 fm - Album Review: Eels - End Times

January 22, 2009

It seems appropriate that the eighth studio album for the Eels would be titled End Times. We're surrounded by end of the world mania, fueled by feelings of disaster— socially, politically, and environmentally.  However, what front man Mark Oliver Everett makes clear is that End Times isn't about conspiracy theories, but about "the state of the desperate times we live in." 

That melancholy, which seems to be a constant in his career, comes now with a different tone and from a different direction entirely. Once-humorous musings are now what Everett calls "a divorce album."  A separation from the world he once knew, the artist now takes a journey to the "bottom line-ness of it all." This album has a homemade air to it, and a deep hollow sadness.

The first track is titled "The beginning," a nostalgic look at romance, when "everything was beautiful and free." It's a simplistic snapshot of life, and not a true beginning because it doesn't progress to a conclusion, which leaves the listener feeling unsettled.  The second track, "Gone Man," seems out of place because of its upbeat tempo. The anthem of the album, "she used to love me but it's over now," echoes throughout the rest of the songs, making it seem like it's not the end of times forever, but the end of love for Everett.

"Line in the Dirt," the album's single, continues along the same lines, Everett himself, stated, "I have to laugh when I think how far its gone/ but things aren't funny anymore;" there is something sweet about the melody, but because of the constant repetition of emotion the point seems lost.

In the song "Nowadays," Everett whines, "Nowadays I keep to myself, everybody else can look the other way." This self-imposed separation is what keeps you at a distance, never fully allowing you to feel what he feels, yet lamenting when nobody understands him.

-By Micaela Mielniczenko