Fittingly for the current climate of civil unrest, Eels’ new album The Deconstruction is a look at the concept of regeneration – and how some things need to completely break down before they can return again, anew. Songs like the title track and ‘Sweet Scorched Earth’ reference the apocalypse and environmental disaster under Trump and the powers that be, albeit with a distinct undercurrent of hope running through the album, sidelining the misery and chaos of the present.
I feel like we need to be reminded to try and be nice to each other right now.
E – full name Mark Oliver Everett – is hesitant to talk about the more politically-inclined aspects of the album. “I try not to get political in music, because it doesn’t usually work I think. It’s usually too heavy-handed and obvious. But things are so dire lately that it’s impossible to completely ignore the elephant in the room.”
As such, The Deconstruction spends less time picking apart actual policies and movements, and more time addressing the need for kindness and self-care in critical times. “I feel like we need to be reminded to try and be nice to each other right now. I’m also simultaneously talking to myself and reminding myself that I need to be nicer to me too.”
He adds that people need to remember that there is still beauty in the world. “It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the news, but there’s a big picture and little picture, and you can find some good stuff there. I think just decide to be happy in whatever your reality – just make that decision. I think then it makes it a lot easier to be more compassionate and kinder to other people and being kinder to yourself.”
That same self love and compassion is reflected in tracks like ‘You Are The Shining Light’, which serves to remind us that we are not alone in our journey. In times of heightened social isolation and self-doubt, this brassy track cuts through the crap with hand-claps, encouraging commentary – and a Theremin solo. On the other hand, songs like ‘Be Hurt’ utilise elements of lullaby melodies and a colourful drum machine rattle which channels an uplifting innocence and naiveté, a mainstay of E’s songwriting.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the news, but there’s a big picture and little picture, and you can find some good stuff there.
Such eclectic instruments and arrangements recall earlier Eels albums, imaginative sound collages crafted together in a Virginia bedroom from what array of instruments E had available. Unsurprisingly, even as E’s music has grown and evolved, this method of music-making has well and truly stuck, as he extends this experimental creative process to vast string arrangements with the newly-formed Deconstruction Orchestra.
“It was really fun because most of the time when you hear strings on this record somewhere, they were intended to be on a different song altogether. It’s a very creative way to do it I think, rather than just have a score written out for a song and have strings play the score for the song.”
To E, experimenting in this way allowed him to free-form the arrangements to great effect. “We could pick it off there and cut it up, and chew it up and spit it out onto a different song. It’s a lot about editing and experimenting and just throwing pasta against the wall, and seeing what piece sticks somewhere and all these happy accidents happen where you stick a string part onto a different song in just random places. You’d be amazed when something magical happens and you never would have been able to plan for. It’s all very random and experimental.”
When it comes to re-creating the sound live, Eels aren’t the type of band to perform a carbon copy of the latest album on tour. Instead, fans are introduced to almost completely different incarnations of material each time around. As E says, he doesn’t set out to simply perform an album live. “I always try to treat the shows as their own album. I’m sure we’ll do some songs from the album, but they may or may not resemble very closely the songs on the album.” As to how he might interpret the album on the upcoming tour, even E doesn’t know quite what we will be in for: “I’m about to start figuring that out.”
After the release of his previous album, The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett, E initially thought of retiring, following a bout of tour burn-out. When asked what it was that made him turn from retirement and lean back into music, E says there wasn’t one particular moment that turned everything around. “I don’t know. It happened so gradually that you don’t really notice it happening, until all of a sudden it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m back.’’
If we manage to evade our impending doom long enough for E’s potential retirement, he carefully considers how he would spend his time. After some thought, E sums it up with a laugh: “I would like to just spend it sitting out on the back porch, playing records as the sun sets and getting a good night’s sleep.”
This rings true to the unfettered optimism of the record. As the album comes to a thoughtful close, the second last track, ‘The Unanswerable’, an instrumental, heaves with life in a breathy chorus, and leaves all other things best unsaid. And well after the album ends, an earlier sentiment echoes on: “I had a premonition / that we’re gonna get by.” If we collectively turn to empathy and compassion, we might just make it.
The Deconstruction is out now on E Works via [PIAS]/Inertia. Header photo by Gus Black.
