My interest is always piqued whenever I hear Mark Eitzel has a new album and/or is on tour again. Like a fine wine, he rarely fails to deliver. Like the artistic renaissance of many veteran artists in the last few years, these ‘old school’ silver foxes have plenty to teach our younger folk. Not only via the art of the songwriting craft, but in the equally important departments marked ‘personality’, ‘character’ and ‘charisma.’ There are plenty of fabulous songwriters out there who lack the aforementioned, and vice versa. Eitzel, like all the true greats, has both in abundance. It’s just a shame he hasn’t managed to become visible away from the alternative music loving circuit where he enjoys an enduring cult appeal. Back with his band American Music Club, and indeed via his solo output, rarefied critical praise never equated into commercial fortune; his somewhat dramatic stage persona a little too much for the straight-laced, and his songs often looked deeply into depression, sadness and ‘what-is-it-all-aboutness’. It’s all a bit too much for those who prefer happier, more superficial reflections on life.

But Eitzel is at heart classicist, albeit a lyricist who champions the underdog via often darkly honest rumination and anecdotes. He writes timeless vignettes that are direct ancestors of David Bowie, rat pack, and music hall, even if the hues are usually greyer. Hey Mr Ferryman, his tenth solo studio album, is however another masterclass, helped considerably by Bernard Butler, a man who has consistently worked with some of the true songwriting greats over the years, notably Bert Jansch back in the early noughties when folk had not yet become fashionable again. Similarly, Eitzel is not fashionable (and is unlikely to ever be), but Butler knows a great songwriter when he hears one, and eagerly offered his services to a floundering Eitzel – he had already attempted to record some of theses songs, but wasn’t pleased with the results. Indeed, Butler has gone beyond the call of duty, not only producing this album, but also providing the electric guitars, bass and keyboards, in creating a more ornate and produced work than we are used to (bar perhaps the major label Mercury album of ’93).

It’s come at a good time for Eitzel, who was in danger of slipping off the radar entirely; still producing great stuff, but stuck in terms of presentation. While many artists are dialling back to a rawer, more ‘honest’ sound, Eitzel has always been making work like that a pared back, electric and live feel that accentuated the drama of the performance. But, his extraordinarily expressive and soaring vocal ability needed a shot in the arm for once. It deserves a little more care and polish, without scrubbing the dirt underneath the workman-like fingernails.

“I spent the last ten years trying to waste half an hour” is vintage Eitzel, on the opening track, the rather peppy ‘The Last Ten Years’, a feel-good song despite the typical self-deprecation and comic thoughts of mortality, as he metaphorically downs another drink. Elsewhere, the mood is less brisk and less musically upbeat. Reminiscent of his early AMC work, ‘An Answer’ once again reveals Eitzel to be be the lovelorn romantic as Butler ups the ante with some judicious strings and angelic backing vocals, while the brilliantly evocative ‘The Road’ details some kind of life as a touring musician. Languorous and epic in its drifting grooves, Eitzel says there is no end to the road, as Butler weaves some electric guitar work (reminiscent of the work of long-time Eitzel guitarist, Vudi), tastefully embellishing this most transcending of tunes.

Then there’s the harrowing and existentialist ‘Nothing and Everything’, about an abusive relationship (as is ‘Just Because’) but richly metaphorical and poetic, much more so than the semi-narrative style we are used to. Conversely, tracks such as the tragicomedic ‘Mr Humphries’ and the oddly lo-fi bossanova drama of ‘An Angel’s Wing Brushed the Penny Slots’ are stories about other people, the latter an entertainingly morbid tale of a dead woman haunting her gambling-addict widow: “The El Cortez still welcomes me / Guess if you die on the floor, the drinks are all free”, is but just another example of Eitzel somehow seeing the bright side of life. Which he takes to its natural conclusion via final track ’Sleep From My Eyes’, an experiment in writing a love song from the point of view of someone in a coma.

Mixing up songs and stories about himself and other characters, real or imagined, there’s an optimistic hue to the album. Perhaps the near fatal heat attack in 2012 had something to do with that, plus his advancing years. After all he’s in his mid-50s and continues to survive. “You make me want to stick around and find if there’s an answer” he sings on ‘An Answer’. And that is Eitzel’s world in a nutshell, encapsulated in that one lyric. He knows there is no true answer. Just this ability, motivation, and willingness to talk, sing and write about it. It’s no holds barred, heart-on-sleeve stuff. And he’s doing it as well, if not better, than ever.
Jeff Hemmings

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