Rather critically eluded to at times as "a poor mans Beck," Eels, created by Mark Everett, aka E, has primarily been denied his due, despite crafting a damn impressive body of work. Be it the rambling, infectious life-cycle production of 2005's Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, or 1998's Electro Shock Blues, a dim deliberation on the death of his mother from cancer, he's constructed fine concept albums, intensely personal without submitting to cheesy sentimentality
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Here, E abandons the openly personal, and takes on the character Hombre Lobo, meaning warewolf in Spanish, and apparently rejuvenates the suffering of "Dog Faced Boy," the so-called protagonist of a song from 2002's Souljacker. The story picks up when Lobo enters adulthood as an erratic outsider, desperately wanting for love and human connections, hence the record's subtitle, 12 Songs of Desire.
Lobo abandons the orchestration and experimentalism that saturated Blinking Lights, stripping tracks down to a primal base, similar to Howlin' Wolf (coincidence?) in the bluesy starkness of this back to basics rock and roll record, one that alternates between slashing rockers and crippled ballads.
"Id rather be alone than try to be someone I'm not," Everett confesses with resignation on the tremendous blues of "Ordinary Man." Some might say he's assumed a character here, probably in large part to deflect much of the attention attracted to his personal life via his previous albums and recent autobiography, but this record is still pure E - invigorating in it's obsession, desperation, vulnerability, and brilliance.
Eels - Tremendous Dynamite: Making of HOMBRE LOBO Trailer
Eels - Prizefighter from HOMBRE LOBO
Eels - In My Dreams from HOMBRE LOBO
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