Eels - Electro-Shock Blues (Album Review)

 

Eels - Electro-Shock Blues

(1998)

My copy: 2015 reissue by Geffen Records and Universal Music Group International

After the relative mainstream success of his first release for the Dreamworks label, Mark Everett followed up with the much more personal Electro-Shock Blues. Inspired largely by the tragic demise of Everett’s sister as well as his mother’s cancer diagnosis, the lyrical content frequently represents the author’s struggle with depression and anxiety though the music itself only dips into true catharsis occasionally. 

“Elizabeth On The Bathroom Floor” recreates emotional numbness with quiet background distortion situated behind gentle guitar that brushes slightly with dissonance. Deep, buzzing bass dominates the mood of “Going To Your Funeral Part I” with instrumentals that borrow from the dirges of Tom Waits albeit with dramatic falsettos and dampened hand drums. Pseudo-industrial samples propel the slick choruses of “Cancer For The Cure” while the vocals border on over-produced for the style - the lyrics, however, can be brutally candid for a Dreamworks release. “My Descent Into Madness” touches on the trip-hop of Portishead or Bowery Electric through hooky rhythmic loops that coincide with regal string arrangements; these are still pop songs though, dialing in at shorter lengths and with brighter choruses. 

A proper lullaby is found in the subtly evolving “3 Speed,” which rises from guitar and voice into woodwinds and bending lead melodies. The heavy lounge-jazz attitude of “Hospital Food” inches ever-closer to the likes of Morphine with honking sax, calypso influence and eclectic drum fills. The deepest catharsis is reached in the minimalist “Electro-Shock Blues” with tear-jerkingly simple lyrics and gentle, lo-fi piano - written mainly for Everett’s sister. “Efil’s God” is a clever reworking of one of Everett’s old songs, here with the string arrangements reversed to give off a more ghostly atmosphere. “Going To Your Funeral Part II” is a rather drab instrumental, more suited for a Dreamworks cartoon though “Last Stop: This Town” rather elegantly fuses paisley era psychedelic arpeggios with trip-hop drum and bass pop, later indulging in abrasive guitar distortion. 

The twinkling mobile melodies of “Baby Genius” make for a sweet rumination before the three course singer-songwriter run of “Climbing To The Moon,” “Ant Farm” and “Dead Of Winter” with the latter being the most emotionally impactful. “The Medication Is Wearing Off” takes us into one last dose of hypnotic pop-meets-trip-hop before the strikingly hopeful closing track “P.S. You Rock My World.”

Everett’s ability to remain optimistic in the final moments of this record is admirable, as the stories behind Electro-Shock Blues’s heart-wrenching lyrics are genuinely harrowing. While the music continues in a pop-centric design, there are plenty of brooding, reflective moments with contributions from many outside artists. Even in Everett’s woes, he is able to work a variety of genres into a collection of catchy melodies - helping others to cope in his tireless musical endeavor.