Though the stark loneliness of the single-lettered name "E" represented his emotional outlook rather well, it was also very confusing for marketing purposes. After being dumped by Polydor, E added drummer Butch and bassist Tommy Walters to the mix creating "Eels." Their brilliant first album Beautiful Freak, co-produced by E and Dust Brother Mike Simpson, came out in '96. On it E alternates between his frayed lower register and a lilting, affecting falsetto to create a dialogue with himself on fables for self-absorbed suburban teens like "Your Lucky Day in Hell," "Susan's House" and "My Beloved Monster."

The production is white room clean yet intimate as traditional ringing guitar is spiced with Beck-like samples, loops and exotic instrumentation (theremin). On the startling, beautiful "Novocaine For The Soul" (alt-rock radio #1), a light jazzy cymbal and bell intro is jolted by acute guitar and "I Am the Walrus" orchestration. "Life is hard/ And so am I/ You'd better give me something, so I don't die/ Novocaine for the soul/ Before I sputter out." Though heavy with ennui and solipsism, Beautiful Freak holds out the hope that life can be fixed, and is, like the huge-eyed figure of its cover, beautifully freaky.

Though finally successful, E's bleak view grew even more so, though not without cause. E had found his father dead when he was 19. His sister Elizabeth had committed suicide in '96, and now in '97 his mother was dying of lung cancer. He attacked this litany of sorrow on the difficult but cathartic Electro-Shock Blues, and Daisies of the Galaxy. Reflecting a dream Butch had of himself playing timpani with a full "Eels Orchestra," an orchestra of that name was assembled and toured in 2000.

Now comes Souljacker, on which the previously nerdish, bespectacled E has adopted a feral Kaczynski-like appearance, with full beard, shades and tight hood. The music has similarly moved from chamber rock to a Jon Spencer Blues Explosion ragged psycho-blues. Alternately brooding and vicious, highlights include "That's Not Really Funny," "Fresh Feeling," the heavy groove of "Jungle Telegraph," and best, the sprightly and tuneful "Rotten World Blues," contained on a supplemental four-song EP. It's his (their) best since Beautiful Freak.