Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire is the seventh studio album by American rock band Eels, released on June 2, 2009. Hombre Lobo is Spanish for "werewolf." On March 31, 2009, the band made the track "Fresh Blood" available on Spinner.com, explaining that the song would be the lead single for the album. A documentary entitled Tremendous Dynamite was filmed to document the recording of the album. The cover art is a tribute to the famous Cuban cigar brand Cohiba.
Composition
The songs form a concept album about desire. As E explained "I wanted to write a set of songs about desire. That dreadful, intense want that gets you into all sorts of situations that can change your life in big ways." In part, the album was inspired by E's facial hair and written as a sequel to the Souljacker song "Dog Faced Boy." The character of "Dog Faced Boy" has grown up into a werewolf and is the protagonist who experiences various types of desire throughout the songs. In an interview with NPR on June 6, 2009, Eels' frontman Mark Oliver Everett stated "That Look You Give That Guy" is his favorite song from the album. In contrast to the lush double album that was 2005's Blinking Lights and Other Revelations, Everett tried to compose more straightforward rock songs for Hombre Lobo. Hombre Lobo is the first in a trilogy of three concept albums continuing with the 2010 albums End Times and Tomorrow Morning.
Release history
The album was released as a single CD in Europe on Polydor/Vagrant, an enhanced CD with the Tremendous Dynamite documentary in the United States through E Works/Vagrant, a deluxe edition CD with a DVD, and a limited-edition vinyl LP with gold embossing with a print run of 2,000. It is also sold digitally from the iTunes Store; pre-ordered copies receive a copy of the music video for "Prizefighter."
Marketing
Prior to the album's release, Eels promoted it with music videos for "Fresh Blood", "That Look You Give That Guy", "Prizefighter", and "In My Dreams". The band also briefly used a Twitter account to generate hype for the album. The live EP The Myspace Transmissions Session 2009 was also released to promote the album. "Fresh Blood" was used in the June 2010 trailer for the 3rd season of HBO's "True Blood, as well as the ending credits of episode 11, Season 3." It was also used as the closing song for the season 6 premiere episode of FX's series "Rescue Me." It was also used as the theme song for the HBO Docu-Series "The Jinx".
Critical reception
The album has a score of 70/100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally positive reviews." One negative review of the album came from Pitchfork Media, who gave the album 4.6 out of 10.
Track listing
All songs written by E and Kelly Logsdon, except where noted
