Eels, Soul Jacker (Dreamworks) 9+
Soul Jacker is the fourth set of brilliance by the L.A.-based songwriter known as "E." Previous albums have dealt with harrowing personal tales of angst and grief, set to eccentric yet incredibly infectious hooks. Eels albums have always exuded a British feel in their layered pop fussiness, which is why Soul Jacker was released in the U.K. months previously. Soul Jacker, named after an American serial killer who thought he could steal his victims' souls, has a much different feel than last year's Daisies Of The Galaxy, which was an exercise in lovely, upbeat pop simplicity. Much like Sparklehorse's It's A Wonderful Life, this album explores darker themes with image-rich creativity, while avoiding self-pitying pitfalls of common miserabilists with wry humor. The sound is rawer, crunchier, dirtier, with tattered edges rather than a polished gleam. This sonic change is due in part to production by John Parish (PJ Harvey), and guitar assistance from Joe Gore (Tom Waits). Much like PJ Harvey on To Bring You My Love, they recycle and modernize the blues with "Soul Jacker part I," an update of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love." "Dog Faced Boy" starts out with a low, gravelly guitar that continues the Harvey-circa-'95 influence, mixed with the woozy, low-tuned guitars of an old Nirvana song, "Blew." The derivativeness ends there, as the rest of the album is bracingly original. On "That's Not Really Funny," E berates his lover for making fun of the size of his penis to a schizophrenic mambo and punk background. Hilarious. "Fresh Feeling" hearkens to the positivity of Daisies. It's an affecting love song with a swooning chamber string section, guaranteed to make it onto many a mash mix for 2002. "Woman Driving, Man Sleeping" is a subtly powerful mood piece, with laid back acoustic guitars. "Looking straight ahead into the black…there's no radio to play/sitting with the map/laying crumpled on her lap/looking for the toll money to pay." "Friendly Ghost," "Teenage Witch" and "Bus Stop Boxer" are character studies of misfits, accompanied by fresh, imaginative arrangements. "Jungle Telegraph" pulls off the unlikely synthesis of Tom Waits tin pan alley pastiche with a danceable funk groove. "World Of Shit" ("in this world of shit/baby you are it") is possibly the most deadpan love song ever, in which E proposes ("baby, I confess/I am quite a mess") he and his mate get married and "make some people/more than equal/in this world of shit." Music this brilliantly messed up simply must make the Eels famous. Soul Jacker is not as ambitious as Electro-Shock Blues or as entertaining as Daisies, but it's just as haunting, funny, beautiful and unique.
