Eels - Tomorrow Morning

Time for the good times, at last

Tomorrow Morning is billed as “the most uplifting Eels album”, and there’s certainly some truth in that claim. But then, looking back, Mark “E” Everett’s hardly been churning out disco for the last 15 years, so it’s not a revelatory claim. Still, there’s much here ideal for basking in summer’s heat. Opener In Gratitude For This Magnificent Day and halfway mark This Is Where It Gets Good find a spring returning to Eels’ step, with washes of strings and cute, clunky, electronic beats. Better still are E’s “girl songs” such as Oh So Lovely, That’s Not Her Way and Baby Loves Me. If taken in one dose, they’re a touch saccharine but, interspersed here between instrumentals, those familiar Eels keyboards and oddball quirks, they stand proud.

If there’s one criticism, it’s the words. E may have set out to make an uplifting record, but too often the lyric sheet reads like a new age poster: “I feel my heart changing in mysterious new ways;” or, worse: “Used to be kind of bitter/Always had a baby sitter/But I’m feeling much fitter”. Still, it’s a marked improvement on the self-pity of End Times, and it feels like Everett’s headed the right way again.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

E Works | VVR 744352

Reviewed by Jake Kennedy
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