EELS have announced their 16th studio album, COOKIE HAPPENED, arriving October 16 via E Works / Play It Again Sam. Alongside the announcement, EELS have shared “Cap In Hand.”

The warm-hearted, rueful and quietly triumphant song, sets the tone for an album that finds E (Mark Oliver Everett) turning his gaze toward life’s small victories, inevitable disappointments and the strange miracle of having been here at all.

E explains:

“I wanted to sound kind of worn out for this one too, like someone who’s messed up their life but now sees the error of their ways and is trying to make amends with their tail between their legs. You know how record companies are: “We don’t care what you give us, just make sure you sound defeated on the first two tracks!”

Speaking about the album title, E says:

“All of this will be forgotten. Every joy, accomplishment and hardship will one day become so irrelevant it will be as if none of it occurred. But as the great philosopher of our times, Cookie Monster once said: ‘Me no cry because cookie is finished. Me smile because cookie happened.’ This will all be forgotten. But isn’t it still a beautiful thing that it happened?”

COOKIE HAPPENED follows 2024’s EELS TIME!, which saw EELS continuing their remarkable late-career run with a collection of songs that balanced reflection, humor and hard-won optimism. With its latest offering, EELS once again demonstrate that few artists are better at finding meaning in life’s messiest moments.

Beyond music, E is also the author of the acclaimed memoir Things the Grandchildren Should Know and the subject of the award-winning documentary Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives, which explored his relationship with his father, the pioneering quantum physicist Hugh Everett III.

EELS
TRACK LIST
COOKIE HAPPENED
E Works / Play It Again Sam

1. CLOBBERED
2. CAP IN HAND
3. ALL FORGOTTEN
4. BAMBOOZLED AGAIN
5. LOST AND BARKING
6. TAKING PICTURES
7. NEW STORY
8. CONGRATULATIONS TO ME
9. ONE RAZZLE, ONE DAZZLE
10. I’M ON STANDBY
11. DUM DUMS
12. THE WAY I WAS MADE

Pre-order COOKIE HAPPENED by EELS HERE