I am streaming the new Eels album ‘The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett’, while reading this interview of Mark Everett on Grantland.com by Zach Dionne. I have a long-time connection with Mark since ‘Blinking Lights and Other Revelations’, plus I stumbled on him at Skylight Books once (he lives in the neighborhood) and it is as if I knew him very well, so I could have interviewed him? Plus if you haven’t seen ‘Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives’, the movie he made about his father Hugh Everett, who first proposed the many-worlds interpretation of quantum physics, I highly recommend it. Just like his book/autobiography ‘Things the Grandchildren Should Know’, which, according to this new interview could be a prequel to this new album. There’s again a song called ‘Parallels’ on this new one and it must be for a good reason as the album is sold as one of the most personal documents he has cooked up since his 1996 ‘Beautiful Freak’.
The album sounds like a lo-fi, intimate affair, with lots of strings and delicate melodies reminiscent of ‘Blinking Lights’ or ‘Daisies of the Galaxy’, probably a bit depressing,… it’s probably not his best work as there’s nothing there to wake me up so far, but Mark Everett is a very prolific guy and has produced so many songs that have stayed with me for a long time. ‘Cautionary Tales’ is the Eels’ 11th album with 13 songs, that’s a lot of songs altogether. So what’s going on in the life of the man called E, who has just turned 50 by the way. Here are a few interesting excerpts.
About him feeling a really awkward guy in life and onstage:
‘I noticed specifically in the tour we did last year that I did not feel that anymore. I felt like such a rock star some nights that it was scaring me. I was probably able to convey it earlier, but I never really felt it until recently. I’m still totally awkward in life.’
It is also the first album which has Mark’s real name on the cover, no flight suit and giant beard to hide behind:
‘That’s why this one’s so terrifying for me. There’s no “Dog Faced Boy” character, and I really just feel like I’m standing naked in front of the world. I don’t like it, I don’t like this feeling at all, but I do believe it’s a worthwhile endeavor. It just feels about a hundred times more vulnerable than usual.’
For me, every Eels’ song reveals some vulnerability, beard or no beard, and that’s why he has always touched a sensible chord in my mind. I am going to listen to this new album another time, because Mark is thinking about retirement at one point, although he doesn’t know for sure:
‘Well, that’s an interesting way to put it. I very well might retire at some point, I don’t know. I have no idea. Music, as I said, really saved me, and I would be nowhere without it. But now I’m dealing with the other side of the coin and trying to figure out how to create some balance in my life, so who knows. There’s no plans for the future right now — we’re just gonna get this record out and play some concerts. After that, it’s a blank slate. Historically, it has been difficult for me to not do it. But I also might be at a point in my life where it’s the right thing to do, to not do it.’
Other oddities from the E man? ‘Plastic Ono Band’ by John Lennon was his favorite album at 10, he doesn’t know what indie means, and he would like to work with Kanye West. Of course it becomes a bit of a cliché, all these people who say they want to work with Kanye, but in the case of E, it is probably very sincere:
‘I love Kanye West. I really love his new record, especially. I would love to work with him, too. I think he’s kind of as good as it gets in terms of modern artists. And he’s clearly nuts, but that just makes me like him more. He’s one of those guys that has no filter, and that’s what I’m trying to do on this new Eels record, I’m just trying to get rid of the filter. I find it refreshing when a guy like Kanye comes along and is willing to say all these ridiculous, outrageous things, and he’s just telling the truth as he sees it.’
Kanye is clearly nuts? I can’t agree more!! But a collaboration between the two men would be really crazy… Blinking Lights and Other Twisted Fantasy? Hombre Yeezus? This will never happen!
