7 / 10
As a single, Mark Eitzel's country rock jaunt, 'Proclaim Your Joy', sounds like a sunny affirmation. As the final chapter in 'The Invisible Man', though, it's more like an embittered cackle.
Eitzel's first album in three
years doesn't reveal a man who regularly proclaims his joy. It's an album of maudlin late night electronic ambience Eitzel made alone at home in San Francisco
on a computer while staring poetically at his navel.
Eitzel does doomed introspection with more wit than the average bear, however, and more tunefully, too. There's the Prefab Sprout-ish groove of 'The Boy With The Hammer In The Paper Bag' - a song about just that - and a blowy ballad about getting high and joining the Christian Scientists ('Christian Science Reading Room'), but best of all there's the heartbreaking 'Without You' where Eitzel bawls out how helpless he is without a loved one (possibly about his friend Kathleen Burns, whose death in '98 preceded his three-year silence).
And then, bang! Just as he's brought you to your knees, Eitzel hits you with the news that "it's important throughout your life to proclaim your joy".
Eitzel's a brilliant songwriter, but he's a cruel bastard too.
Ted Kessler
NEW! For the latest music videos and backstage interviews, check out our brand new sister site, NME Video.
Comments do not always reflect the views of NME, or IPC Media, for guidelines visit our Ts & Cs page