Review by AVA LIVERSIDGE
Eels seems to have mellowed into quiet reflection on its 15th studio album Eels Time!
Eels Time! is the first in-person recording session since the group’s COVID-era hiatus and frontman Mark Oliver Everett’s stint in the hospital following open-heart surgery. The new record shows the outfit has very little to prove.
Main lyricist Everett ushers audiences into a more wistful side of the alt-rockers on the new album.
On the clement acoustic lead single “Time,” Everett asks us to appreciate the transience of it all. How are we meant to appreciate what we have when we’re constantly running out of time to appreciate it?
Inflections of our pandemic days permeate the track. “Goldy” delivers the sardonic tale of a man whose closest confidant is, of course, his goldish. Held down by a chugging rhythm section, Everett’s malaise makes for the impression of a man disillusioned.
Check out the video for ‘Time’ here:
The final single on Eels Time!, “If I’m Gonna Go Anywhere” is a fuzzy, synth-driven track that not only clues us into the record’s timbral range but continues to harp on themes of skepticism.
Everett holds onto the reluctant rockstar persona as he tries to parse through what is good and true when all other airs are stripped away: “What else is there but love?”
All three singles promise a no-frills return from the indie rock outfit Eels on their record Eels Time!
