It's almost Eels time! The long-running indie-rock project led by Mark Oliver Everett, aka E, is returning this summer with their delightfully named 15th album EELS TIME! (exclamation mark and capitalization very much included).
Eels have followed lead single "Time" with another taste of the upcoming album. On the new track "Goldy," Everett imagines his dog Bundy — yes, it's named after Ted Bundy, and yes, his other dog is named Manson — as a goldfish.
"It's kind of funny how the only one I need in the world is a goldfish swimming in a bowl," Everett sings in the chorus. In a statement, he adds, "Sometimes the answers to all of your problems are right there in the fishbowl on your table." Listen to "Goldy" below.
"Goldy" is one of five songs on the album co-written with actor, All American rejects frontman, and Everett's former neighbor and DreamWorks labelmate Tyson Ritter.
The pair first linked up when Everett was asked to help write a song for Ritter's 2022 movie Prisoner's Daughter. That collaboration led to Everett making an appearance in the film as the boss of Kate Beckinsale's character (and getting punched by her ex-husband, played by Ritter — "I was so method I cracked a rib," Everett jokes in a press release).
"He's turned out to be one of my favorite, weird, eccentric and imaginative collaborators," Everett says of Ritter. "And he was right there down the hall from me at the DreamWorks Records office all those years ago. Who knew?"
'EELS TIME!' is out in June.
EELS TIME! was recorded between Los Feliz, California and Dublin, Ireland in the band's first in-person sessions since the COVID-19 pandemic. It also features contributions from musicians including Sean Coleman and Everett's longtime collaborators The Chet (Jeff Lyster) and Koool G Murder (Kelly Logsdon).
Here's the official tracklist:
01 TIME
02 WE WON’T SEE HER LIKE AGAIN
03 GOLDY
04 SWEET SMILE
05 HAUNTED HERO
06 IF I’M GONNA GO ANYWHERE
07 AND YOU RUN
08 LAY WITH THE LAMBS
09 SONG FOR YOU KNOW WHO
10 I CAN’T BELIEVE IT’S TRUE
11 ON THE BRIDGE
EELS TIME! is out June 7 via E Works/Play It Again Sam. You can pre-order it here.
Mark Oliver Everett is Eels, for all intents and purposes.
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Since their 1996 debut Beautiful Freak, Eels have gone through various lineup changes, with Everett himself holding it all down as the band's principal songwriter and sole constant. The ever-prolific group has gone on to release 14 studio albums, nine live albums, two best-of compilations, and one collection of rarities and unreleased material.
Eels' last album, 2022's Extreme Witchcraft, was recorded remotely during lockdown in collaboration with PJ Harvey’s longtime musical foil John Parish.
The band also had a busy year in 2023 — touring through Europe and North America on their Lockdown Hurricane tour, releasing the best-of compilation EELS So Good: Essential EELS, Vol. 2, and closing out the year by dropping the brand new holiday single "Christmas, Why You Gotta Do Me Like This."
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