I am Kyle's self-indulgence

If I could choose one musical album for everyone in the world to listen to, it would be Electro-Shock Blues by Eels. E (the main man behind Eels) wrote most of the songs during a difficult period in his life, to say the least: within the span of about a year, his mother, sister, and (I believe) a grandparent all died, in separate incidents. The songs reflect myriad emotions experienced by E, and they are arranged to create something of a concept album about death, grief, and life.

...

The album begins on an especially sour note, and rarely lets up. The first song, "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor" is sung from the perspective of E's sister, who is dying after committing suicide. The following song is a record of E's thoughts and feelings as he attends his sister's funeral:

Look at all the people with
their heads down in their hands
When everything I'm feeling
makes it hard to understand
that, uh
What I need to miss...
It's what I need to miss...
Is you

E continues to alternate slow, introspective songs with slightly more upbeat tunes for the middle part of the album. The songs "My Descent Into Madness," "Electro-Shock Blues," and "Climbing to the Moon" all carry the theme of E's feelings of mental instability in the wake of his tragedy. "Hospital Food," while lyrically playful and uptempo, is really a reflection on how everyone is just a misstep away from personal tragedy: "Next thing you know you're eating hospital food." In "Last Stop: This Town," E imagines a happy reunion with a ghost, and a longing to return with him.

While there are some bright moments throughout the middle of the album, the end contains E's bleakest moments. "Dead of Winter" is about E standing outside the hospital where his mother is being treated for cancer. It is, in my opinion, the saddest song on the album, featuring the lines:

So I know you're going pretty soon
Radiation sore throat got your tongue
Magic markers tattoo you
And show it where to aim
And strangers break their promises
You won't feel any
You won't feel any pain

Right now you may be asking, "Why would anyone want to listen to music that is so miserably depressing?" I said this album is about death, grief, and life. All of the depressing stuff is necessary for the eventual pay-off at the end. The more depressing the rest of the album, the greater the pay-off at the end. And what a pay-off it is!

After taking the listener along into the very depths of depression and despair, E emerges with the final song on the album, "P.S. You Rock My World." It's best to just let the song speak for itself, so here are the lyrics in their entirety:

I was at a funeral the day I realized
I wanted to spend my life with you
Sitting down on the steps at the
old post office
The flag was flying at half-mast
And I was thinking' 'bout how
everyone is dying
And maybe it's time to live

I don't know where we're going
I don't know what we'll do

Walked in to the Thrif-tee
Saw the man with the hollow eyes
who didn't give me all my change
But it didn't bother me this time
'cause I know I've only got
this moment
And it's good
I went to the gas station
Old woman honked her horn
Waiting for me to fix her car

I don't know where we're going
I don't know what we'll do

Laying in bed tonight I was thinking
and listening to all the dogs
and the sirens and the shots
And how a careful man tries
to dodge the bullets
While a happy man takes a walk

And maybe it's time to live

Out of death, life. Out of grief, happiness. Out of despair, hope. This song is what makes the album great. It's an expression not only of E's depression and grief, but also the new approach to life he gained as a result.