Eels – My Timing Is Off/Fresh Blood

Hurrah! Eels are back! In that respect it has been a long four years since the release of the epic Blinking Lights and Other Revelations.

In the vein of the afore mentioned Blinking Lights… and Daisies Of The Galaxy rather than the more distortion heavy Souljacker period, ‘My Timing Is Off’ tells a tale of bad luck and unfulfilled love familiar to most Eels fans from tracks such as ‘If You See Natalie’ and ‘It’s A Motherf**ker’.

The clean electric guitar and soft drumming make you feel immediately welcome, and E spins his yarn as if he’s the slightly drunk man on the bar stool next to you in a quiet bar.

He is unabashed in his lament however – “My timing is off/Sometimes that’s how it all works/Believe it or not/We don’t have choices in matters of the heart”

‘Fresh Blood’, however, bears E’s darker underbelly. Voyeuristic in tone and complete with distorted howls and a slightly threatening desire for something new (“I’m so tired/Of the same old crud/Sweet baby/I need fresh blood”), this track bubbles along on a sinister synth and bass line.

These tracks, a pre-cursor to the new album Hombre Lobo, are typically Eels…if there is such a thing! If these two tracks are anything to go by, we’re all in for a treat when the album is released.