Eels With Strings: Live at Town Hall

'Eels With Strings' was recorded only two months after Eels` 'Blinking Lights and Other Revelations' was released in 2005.

As on that studio set, this live performance allows Mark Oliver Everett ('E') to slow down and take more chances with his arrangements. Conjuring a vibe at once sinister, stirring and vulnerable, the ever-troubled E delivers a heart-aching 22-song set enhanced by string quartet, lap steel, upright piano, musical saw and an assortment of other toys. Pop parodies like 'I Like Birds' and 'Hey Man (Now You`re Really Living)' are interlaced with emotionally raw numbers like 'If You See Natalie' (which laments the suicide of his sister) and 'Bus Stop Boxer.'

Thanks to the stellar backup band, E`s husky voice and sad stories become all the more desperately lovely.