Shootenanny!

It's not as poppy as some of his other albums, but it is more focused and appealing, and one of the stronger testaments to his ornery talents.

As he did on 2000's enchanting Daisies of the Galaxy, E lifts the depressive curtain on Shootenanny!, balancing existential woe with spiky humor, some hope and even glimmers of Zen-like self-realization.

A 21st-century alienated soul album that slips the Eels back into your heart.

Shootenanny is full of the tragic humour and insight I've come to expect from E, with all his indie-level innovation intact.

[Has] a sunnier, jangly guitar pop backdrop.

This is nihilistic pop at its finest.

While E's particularly bittersweet lyrics stamp his persona on the album, musically, it's like Wilco, but without the experimentation.

This is the kind of bedroom folk pop E's done prettier -- and weirder -- before.

Agony almost works through sheer bleakness, but mostly Shootenanny feels like an adolescent demand for attention with little justification.

The production as always sounds great, making fifty cent arrangements sound like a million bucks, but that doesn't save the music, which is as generic a set of post-post-Beatles pop as he could possibly turn out.