Mark Eitzel: Don't Be A Stranger

He’s been through the wars of late, having suffered a heart attack in 2011 and the death last year of his long-time drummer Tim Mooney, not to mention ongoing record label problems. But, as if to prove the old adage that great art comes from adversity, the former American Music Club frontman has gone and made the best record of his career (funded by a lottery-wining friend!).

Always the master of heartache and despair, mixed with a Randy Newman-esque wry humour, Eitzel’s croon has mellowed and backed by acoustic guitar, piano, strings and a light rhythm section, here the melodies shine as never before. The jazzy, swooning ‘All My Love’ could be a Sinatra tune but he’s always at his best when wracked with self-doubt and insecurity, as on ‘Why Are You With Me’ where, over a soft shuffle, he sings: “I knew from the start that you could break my heart… I’m a slave to all my fears.” Revisiting his early days in the punk clubs on the reverb-laden, ‘I Love You But You’re Dead’ he deadpans, “I wanna get messed up and give up and end up somewhere else.” Elsewhere he confronts past demons on ‘We All Have To Find Our Own Way Out’ and looks amusingly to the future on the folksy, ‘I Know The Bill Is Due’ (“Who needs the past – it just sticks to your shoe”). Sublime.