EELS – The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett
Americana-hued confessions by Virginia’s self-confessed relationship “asshole”.
Eels’ song-writing commander-in-chief, Mark Oliver Everett, or E, has never been afraid of a little public soul-searching. The second Eels studio album, Electro-Shock Blues, focused on both the suicide of his sister and his mother’s fight with cancer. The Cautionary Tales Of… paints in slightly lighter shades – E’s self-confessed “assholery” in relationships – but the tone is no less pained. From the opening lyrics on Parallels (“Woke up lost, in a world I didn’t know”) this is a majestically constructed personal struggle that delivers a typically unhappy ending. Brittle and forlorn Agatha Chang is a tale of neglected love, while the swooning strings that drive Lockdown Hurricane deliver an impending sense of separation. It’s the chiming guitars of album centrepiece, A Swallow In The Sun, that really underlines a sense that The Cautionary Tales Of… operates in the same ballpark as Sea Change – Beck’s 2002 work of staggering heartbreak. Here’s the rather beautiful 'single', Mistakes Of My Youth...
And, if you’re in the mood and on a 'break', here's an official stream of the album in full...