Before he began recording under the name Eels, Mark Oliver Everett released a pair of wryly dark solo albums under the name E. The title of E's first nationally released single, from 1992, summed up a worldview that's propelled him through the long and fascinating career that followed: "Hello Cruel World." That sort of openhearted pessimism has served Everett well over the years, and it continues in earnest on Eels' new Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire.
Everett's dusky croon radiates futile yearning in "In My Dreams," which finds our hero praising a perfect love: "Whatever's wrong with me," he sings, "her kiss redeems." It wouldn't take a shrewd judge of nuance to sort out where the song is going from there, even if the song weren't called "In My Dreams," in part because Everett does such a tremendous job of infusing his every word with doubt, disappointment and unrequited desire.
There's a reason Eels' songs so often play over movie montages: It doesn't take more than a couplet or two for a song like "In My Dreams" to tell a rich story. As Everett lets his gentle fantasy unfold in detail — "That was the funnest day / Her sad eyes beamed" — the song earns every bit of the affection its narrator craves.
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