The Deconstruction

2018 studio album by Eels

The Deconstruction

Studio album by

Eels

Released| April 6, 2018 (2018-04-06)
Recorded| May 2017 – February 2018
Studio|

* The Compound, Los Feliz, California, U.S.
* The Pie, Pasadena, California, U.S.

Genre| Indie rock
Length| 42:06
Label|

* EWorks
* PIAS

Producer|

* E
* Mickey Petralia

Eels chronology
| The Complete DreamWorks Albums
(2015)  | The Deconstruction
(2018)  | Earth to Dora
(2020)

|
|

The Deconstruction is the twelfth studio album by American rock band Eels, released on April 6, 2018.[1] The band's twelfth studio release follows a four-year period where front man Mark Oliver "E" Everett took a hiatus from music. The album has garnered favourable reviews.

## Recording

[edit]

The Deconstruction is the first Eels studio album in four years; Everett was burned out after touring and recording with the band's previous releases and considered retiring from music.[2] In the interim, he made a few public performances, acted in the Netflix original series Love,[3] and went through a marriage, the birth of his first son, and divorce.[4][5] Lyrically, the album focuses on reconciliation. The song "Archie Goodnight" is written for Everett's son Archie.[6][7] The songs were recorded sporadically across that time and without the intent of making an album,[6] on Everett's personal schedule.[8]

## Promotion and release

[edit]

When the album was announced, the title track was made available for streaming.[1] The band shared "Today Is the Day" on February 8,[9] "Premonition" on March 14,[10] and "Bone Dry" on March 28.[11] A music video for "Bone Dry" was released the same day as the album.[12]

## Reception

[edit]

Professional ratingsAggregate scores

Source| Rating
Metacritic| 72/100[13]
Review scores
Source| Rating
American Songwriter| [14]
The Arts Desk| [15]
Drowned in Sound| 7/10[16]
Exclaim!| 6/10[17]
The Irish Times| [18]
Pitchfork| 3.0/10[19]
Under the Radar| 5.5/10[20]

The Deconstruction received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 72 based on 18 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[13] Under the Radar's Matt the Raven gave the album 5.5 out of 10, praising the album's wit and humor but decrying how long the album is, concluding that the release, "gets off to an energetic start with tracks that rock and inspire, ultimately there's too many tracks that don't rock, so it falls a bit short of what Eels are capable of".[20] Javi Fedrick of The Arts Desk gave the album a mixed review, praising the lush instrumentation but calling it, "disjointed as a whole".[15]

In American Songwriter, Hal Horowitz gave the album 4.5 out of five stars, summing up his review, "The album is somewhat of a musical and philosophical rollercoaster. But that’s all in a day’s work for Everett who adds to his already impressive, uncompromising catalog with another expressive, rugged and diverse gem. It’s not always an easy listen but anything worthwhile generally isn’t and kudos to Everett for having the guts and musical fortitude to pull it off... as he always has."[14] In Exclaim!, Ian Gormley gave the album a six out of 10, criticizing the lyrics and summarizing his review, "For now, The Deconstruction is a rather rote and lacklustre return".[17]

In a review giving two out of five stars, Dean Van Nguyen of The Irish Times called the album "more of the same", criticizing the release for not adding to Eels' prior albums, calling it a "typical Eels record to add to the stack."[18] Pitchfork's Ian Cohen wrote a scathing review saying, "Everett trots out his reflexive self-loathing and elementary rhyme schemes one more time, with no clear reason why" and peppers most of his review with sentences taken directly from previous Pitchfork reviews of Eels albums such as "it leaves little to the imagination for anyone who’s followed Eels to this point" and summarizing "The Deconstruction produces no eccentricity, pop smarts, orchestral creativity, or emotional revelation".[19] Jamie Otsa of Drowned in Sound gave the album a seven out of 10, agreeing that the quality was uneven, calling it, "a confusing jumble of highs and lows that perhaps reflects the chaotic nature of the mind behind the record's creation" but praising the album's many tonal and mood shifts.[16]

## Track listing

[edit]

1. "The Deconstruction" (E, Koool G Murder) – 4:10
2. "Bone Dry" (E, Murder) – 3:42
3. "The Quandary" (E) – 0:54
4. "Premonition" (E, Murder) – 3:12
5. "Rusty Pipes" (E, Murder) – 4:04
6. "The Epiphany" (E, Murder) – 2:18
7. "Today Is the Day" (E, P-Boo) – 3:03
8. "Sweet Scorched Earth" (E) – 3:02
9. "Coming Back" (E) – 0:58
10. "Be Hurt" (E, Murder) – 3:59
11. "You Are the Shining Light" (E, Murder) – 3:39
12. "There I Said It" (E) – 2:50
13. "Archie Goodnight" (E) – 0:48
14. "The Unanswerable" (E, Murder) – 2:08
15. "In Our Cathedral" (E) – 3:19

## Personnel

[edit]

* E – guitar, vocals, production
* Koool G Murder – bass guitar
* P-Boo – guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, drums
* with The Deconstruction Orchestra & Choir

## Charts

[edit]

### Weekly charts

[edit]

| Chart (2018)  | Peak
position

|

Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[21] | 6
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[22] | 1
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[23] | 22
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[24] | 16
French Albums (SNEP)[25] | 19
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[26] | 4
Irish Albums (IRMA)[27] | 17
Italian Albums (FIMI)[28] | 96
Scottish Albums (OCC)[29] | 7
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[30] | 33
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[31] | 5
UK Albums (OCC)[32] | 10

### Year-end charts

[edit]

| Chart (2018)  | Position

|

Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[33] | 42

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Kaye, Ben (January 17, 2018). "Eels Announce New Album, The Deconstruction, Share Title Track: Stream". Consequence of Sound.
2. ^ "Eels Star Mr E: I Was Close to Quitting Music for Good". Evening Standard. March 2018.
3. ^ Trendell, Andrew (April 4, 2018). "Eels Mark 'E' Everett Talks His 'compassionate' New Album – and If He'll Write Another Book". New Musical Express.
4. ^ Gross, Terry (April 4, 2018). "Eels' Four-Year Break Led to Songs About Falling Apart, Bouncing Back and Being a Dad". Fresh Air. NPR, via WHYY-FM.
5. ^ Zimmerman, Lee (April 9, 2018). "Mark Oliver Everett and the Reconstruction of Eels". Paste.
6. ^ a b DiGiacomo, Frank (April 5, 2018). "Eels Frontman on How Fatherhood & Trump Affected His Music and Outlook". Billboard.
7. ^ Harvilla, Rob (April 13, 2018). "The Eels Are Still Doing the Best They Can". The Ringer.
8. ^ Murray, Robin (April 12, 2018). "Today Is the Day: Mr. E's Deconstructed Blues". Clash.
9. ^ Serota, Maggie (February 8, 2018). "Eels – "Today Is the Day"". Spin.
10. ^ Gaca, Anna (March 14, 2018). "Eels – "Premonition"". Spin.
11. ^ Breihan, Tom (March 28, 2018). "Eels – "Bone Dry"". Stereogum.
12. ^ O'Connor, Roisin (April 6, 2018). "Eels Unveil an Incredible Animated Video for 'Bone Dry' – Premiere". The Independent.
13. ^ a b "Reviews for The Deconstruction by Eels". Metacritic. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
14. ^ a b Horowitz, Hal (April 4, 2018). "Eels: The Deconstruction". American Songwriter.
15. ^ a b Fedrick, Javi the (March 31, 2018). "CD: Eels – The Deconstruction". The Arts Desk.
16. ^ a b Otsa, Jamie (April 17, 2018). "Eels – The Deconstruction". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on April 19, 2018. Retrieved April 19, 2018.
17. ^ a b Gormley, Ian (April 5, 2018). "Eels The Deconstruction". Exclaim!.
18. ^ a b Nguyen, Dean Van (April 6, 2018). "Eels – The Deconstruction Review: More of the Same". The Irish Times.
19. ^ a b Cohen, Ian (April 12, 2018). "Eels: The Deconstruction". Pitchfork.
20. ^ a b Raven, Matt the (March 30, 2018). "Eels: The Deconstruction (E Works/PIAS) Review". Under the Radar.
21. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Eels – The Deconstruction" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
22. ^ "Ultratop.be – Eels – The Deconstruction" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
23. ^ "Ultratop.be – Eels – The Deconstruction" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
24. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Eels – The Deconstruction" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
25. ^ "Lescharts.com – Eels – The Deconstruction". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
26. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Eels – The Deconstruction" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved April 13, 2018.
27. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Eels". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
28. ^ "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 15 (dal 2018-04-06 al 2018-04-12)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
29. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
30. ^ "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 15: del 6.4.2018 al 12.4.2018" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
31. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Eels – The Deconstruction". Hung Medien. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
32. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved April 14, 2018.
33. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 2018". Ultratop. Retrieved December 21, 2018.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Eels and the Radical Potential of Kindness

* v
* t
* e

Eels

* E
* The Chet
* Koool G Murder
* P-Boo
* Little Joe
* Big/Krazy Al
* Tyson Ritter
* Sean Coleman

* Wayne Bergeron
* Jon Brion
* Peter Buck
* T Bone Burnett
* Butch
* Wally Gagel
* Lisa Germano
* Goldenboy
* Parthenon Huxley
* Ana Lenchantin
* Andy Martin
* Mickey P.
* John Parish
* Grant-Lee Phillips
* John Sebastian
* Adam Siegel
* Michael Simpson
* Aysa and Chloe of Smoosh
* Tommy Walter

Studio albums|

| as E|

* A Man Called E
* Broken Toy Shop

|

* Beautiful Freak
* Electro-Shock Blues
* Daisies of the Galaxy
* Souljacker
* Shootenanny!
* Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
* Hombre Lobo
* End Times
* Tomorrow Morning
* Wonderful, Glorious
* The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett
* The Deconstruction
* Earth to Dora
* Extreme Witchcraft
* Eels Time!

Live albums|

* Oh What a Beautiful Morning
* Electro-Shock Blues Show
* Eels with Strings: Live at Town Hall
* Live at Royal Albert Hall

Compilations|

* Meet the Eels: Essential Eels, Vol. 1 (1996–2006)
* Useless Trinkets
* The Complete DreamWorks Albums
* Eels So Good: Essential Eels, Vol. 2 (2007–2020)

Singles|

* "Novocaine for the Soul"
* "Susan's House"
* "Your Lucky Day in Hell"
* "Last Stop: This Town"
* "Cancer for the Cure"
* "Flyswatter"
* "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues"
* "Souljacker Part I"
* "Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)"
* "My Timing Is Off"/"Fresh Blood"
* "A Line in the Dirt"
* "Cold Dead Hand"

Related articles|

* Discography
* Hugh Everett III
* I Am the Messiah
* Things the Grandchildren Should Know
* Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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