April 19, 2001
Mark Eitzel : It Is Important Throughout Your Life To Proclaim Your Joy
Eitzel's most cheerfully upbeat record for years, but another surefire non-hit.
The Unlucky Alf of alt-rock, Eitzel sounds like Stipe or Costello would if they had been hammering away in bitter semi-obscurity for 20 years with no stadium crowds or South Bank Show retrospectives for validation. His aptly titled new album, 'The Invisible Man', finds the former American Music Club frontman cautiously integrating his troubadour songwriting with post-rock and electronic textures. This though is a Dylan-esque speed-strum, stream-of-consciousness hymn to the carefree eccentrics of this world: "Some train monkeys/Some blame flunkeys/Some eat soap". Oh yes. Eitzel's most cheerfully upbeat record for years, but another surefire non-hit. Bugger.
Stephen Dalton
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