The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett
21 April 2014
Vagrant
3 stars out of 5
The Cautionary Tales
of Mark Oliver Everett is the eleventh studio LP by Eels, named after their
primary singer and songwriter, E. It’s a largely quiet, guitar-based album,
with a smattering of piano tracks and big band arrangements. It’s a record that
straddles that fine line between introspective meditation and bombastic arena
rock ambition. Some tracks, such as “Agatha Chang,” seem built for an intimate
coffee house setting, while others, like “Lockdown Hurricane,” seem to reach
for a universal audience—like a Randy Newman tune about
America-with-a-capital-A, only without the humour and sarcasm.
“A Swallow in the Sun” is typical of the album: apparently
grounded in a deeply personal experience (but reaching for a contrived
universality) the song is a good button-pusher, though cheapens itself by doing
so with such obvious parlour tricks. “Series of Misunderstandings” is a revenge
tale set against the repressed ticking clock of someone about to explode with
rage. “Gentlemen’s Choice” is that Randy Newman song that Everett
The Cautionary Tales
of MOE may in fact be the honest, earnest personal album that it sells itself
as, but its arrangements and delivery point in a different direction. I
wouldn’t go so far as to suggest that Eels are cynically trying to fabricate
emotions or reach those emotions through a paint-by-numbers formula, but most
of the time the record has that feel to it. Approach with caution.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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