Eels returned this week with a brand new record Eels Time!, which came out yesterday (June 7). It’s the 15th record by the Los Angeles indie-rock eccentrics, led by songwriting dynamo Mark Oliver Everett (aka E) and one that explores the usual Eels themes – life, existentialism, death, love, goldfish – with all their customary it-is-what-it-isness. But on account of a major health scare, Eels Time! hits a little harder – Everett underwent open-heart surgery during the album’s creation and recently he told the music Substack publication The New Cue all about it.
“It’s just open-heart surgery that’s all, no big deal,” said Everett, somewhat sardonically. “They stopped my heart on the table and cut through my bones and my muscles and luckily it all worked, I’m good as new, I feel great.”
