Electro-Shock Blues

The sound of Eels' Electro-Shock Blues, the follow-up to the band's intriguing Beautiful Freak, reflects a year in which leader Mark "E" Everett suffered the loss of his sister to suicide as well as the illness of his mother and other tragedies. The music's hushed, sometimes dark sound and Everett's earnest vocals are often more convincing than his diary-entry lyrics, despite the power and daring inherent in describing illness in alt-pop settings that recall everything from hip-hop to Tom Waits.