Campbell: Tuned In: eels, Esmee Denters, Mike + Ruthy

eel’s sun comes out on ‘Tomorrow’

“TOMORROW MORNING,” eels (E Works)

Those who wished eels’ dour “End Times” would indeed signal the end times for the mopey act get a fine compromise with the new “Tomorrow Morning.” Frontman Mark Oliver Everett does a near-180 with the latest, coming just months on the heels of January’s “End Times.”

Everett’s shift from the lo-fi DIY rock of the previous release to an electronic foundation for his new project isn’t so surprising — he’s shown able dexterity with arrangements in 15 years. But his shift from the years-long escalating despair that culminated in “End Times” to a “Tomorrow Morning” loaded with optimism is almost suspicious: Was it really darkest before the dawn of “Tomorrow Morning,” or is Everett simply faking it?

Either way, it’s refreshing. Everett’s impossibly craggy voice is charismatic, plugged into the gentle roll of “Spectacular Girl” with lines like, “I’m a man on a mission, and I’m all about her” or making a case for himself on the strumming ballad “What I Have to Offer” with, “I’ve got good manners, and I make a good pay ... I’ve got a pleasing disposition.” The latter even includes the lyric, “I’m so full of love for you.”

Not only is Everett upbeat and smitten, he charms with humor. He struts to the pronounced beat of “The Man,” filled with self-confidence from the admiration he receives from dubious characters including an angry redneck, a skinhead, a thug rapper and an indie-rock kid. Elsewhwere, he commandeers whimsical romps on “Looking Up” and “Mystery of Life,” and his modulated vocal leads the gospel-rock revival “Looking Up” as he sings to clapping cadence, “Used to be kinda bitter ... Now I’m pretty sweet.”

Sweet and obsessed, whether in the innocent hokum of “I Like the Way This Is Going” (“I like your toothy smile/It never fails to beguile”) or the primal energy in the hefty electric flicker of “This Is Where It Gets Good” (“I can’t stop thinking about you getting out of your dress”).

Even if Everett is putting us on or just fleetingly happy before another storm of agony, “Tomorrow Morning” is a welcome respite from the misery.

Rating (five possible): 4

Timberlake’s boost gets Esmee Denters halfway

“OUTTA HERE,” Esmee Denters (Tennman/Interscope)

Esmee Denters’ story is a modern fairy tale.

A few years ago she was a Dutch teenager in Oosterbeek, the Netherlands, posting on YouTube her renditions of popular songs by singers such as Beyonce and Alicia Keys. She set records for views on YouTube, and she got the attention of pop-music maverick Justin Timberlake, who made her one of the first signees to his Tennman Records imprint on Interscope. Then he put her on stage as his opening act for several dates on the European leg of his 2007 tour.

But the story goes slightly astray with her debut, “Outta Here.” Seems the girl who got ahead by following the leader still sounds like a follower.

Despite Timberlake’s hand in writing, producing and offering supporting vocals, Denters generally sounds like a B-level pop/R&B star, a pale facsimile of Lady Gaga on the title track, a watered-down Rihanna on “What If.”

Timberlake’s instincts are usually solid, and he stacked the deck with songwriters and producers who’ve been behind hits from Usher, Ciara, Leona Lewis, Fergie and others. Denters tries to measure up to her team with her strong voice and sometimes-startling delivery, and to be fair there are no abject failures. She especially seems at ease in the churning ’80s synth-pop of “Love Dealer,” up for the task to lead the urgent soul-funk of “Admit It” and well-suited for the somber, polished pop of a “Gravity” weighted by bumping undercurrent.

But mostly she’s just OK, a passable time-killer till something better and more imaginative comes along. And as the momentum sputters toward the end, her voice starts to feel uncomfortably sharp and the arrangements unnaturally overproduced.

Denters is only 21, so there’s still time for this story to right itself. However, Rihanna is only 22 and Lady Gaga is only 24, so Prince Timberlake might need to bring that white horse to a gallop.

Rating: 3

Mike + Ruthy sound like anyone, everyone

“MILLION TO ONE,” Mike + Ruthy (Humble Abode)

Mike + Ruthy is the performing name of the real-life couple Mike Merenda and Ruth Ungar Merenda, a pair of mid-30-something music chameleons who have been a core duo in the folk band The Mammals. And for those who don’t know who the Mammals are: You aren’t alone, and it doesn’t matter anyway.

Mike + Ruthy’s new “Million to One” is generally interesting, but rarely revealing, as it hopscotches through genres with both members of the duo singing in a variety of vocal styles. It feels all the more uncertain thanks to lyrics that tend to fixate on repeated phrases and rarely pull together a cohesive picture.

Opening track “End of Time” couldn’t be a more representative cut: The song conjures the feeling of a vague dream as the pair jointly sing with near-subliminal breathiness, accompanied by the sunny strum of guitar accented by pedal steel. That atmosphere is recreated in the subdued surrealism of the title track and again on “Summer Sun,” a ghost of a song that closes the release.

But along the way, Mike + Ruthy indulge in the alt-rock blur of “Rise” (“We will rise above our hate/We will rise above our doom”), the rootsy blues of “Covered” (“This world’s got me worried all the time”), the raw call-and-response bar song “Be the Boss” (“What’s it gonna take to make you happy?”) and the blissful lullaby “That’s What I Call Love” (“I watch you watching the stars up above, they twinkle out your name in lights”).

Everything engages, yet nothing sticks, and there’s not a defining moment in this ill-defined concoction.

However, listeners are likely to hang on till the end before they realize they’ve been had.

Rating: 3-1/2

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