(EWorks/Vagrant/Shock)

Mr E is no longer missing that girl

Within the context of the concept trilogy of albums the Eels have released in the past 18 months, Tomorrow Morning is a fitting foil to the grungy rock of 2009’s Hombre Lobo and January’s sombre End Times. It represents a bright, optimistic sunrise following a harrowing night. As a songwriter whose personal life spills inexorably into his work, frontman Mark Everett – aka ‘E’ - has faced his share of hardship. For now though, life’s good. Lyrically, Tomorrow Morning is the most positive and confident Eels album ever – summarised best in I’m A Hummingbird with the line “It was all worth it to be here now.” The gospel keys and backing vocals of Looking Up are infectiously uplifting and for the first time since Fresh Feeling, E has crafted a truly joyous love song in the form of Spectacular Girl. While unmistakably Everett’s work, Tomorrow Morning contains the largest electronic component of any Eels record. Electric piano features heavily, as do drum machines and tape loops. The mammoth This Is Where It Gets Good spends close to two-thirds of its six-minute runtime mashing pastiches of programmed percussion and a digitised string section. More conventional … just … Baby Loves Me sounds like E finally untangled the digital chaos of 2001’s What Is This Note? and turned it into an off-kilter pop song. Unlike the last eight Eels releases, there are no contrasting down notes here; but as a follow-on to Hombre Lobo and End Times, they aren’t missed. In fact, after a tumultuous 14 years, one feel’s E’s high spirits are somewhat overdue.

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NILS HAY

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