EELS
Announce New Studio Album
COOKIE HAPPENED
Out on 16th October via E Works / Play It Again Sam
New Single ‘Cap In Here’ Out Now
16th June 2026 – Critically acclaimed rock group EELS have announced their 16th studio album, COOKIE HAPPENED, arriving 16th October via E Works / Play It Again Sam. Pre-order here.
Alongside the announcement, EELS have shared ‘Cap In Hand’, a bittersweet and beautifully bruised first taste of the album, told from the perspective of someone finally confronting their mistakes and is now attempting to set things right. Listen here. Watch visualiser here.
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.
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 critically acclaimed EELS TIME!, which saw EELS continuing their remarkable late-career run with a collection of songs that balanced reflection, humour 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.
The album’s lead single, ‘Cap In Hand’, introduces one of the record’s recurring characters: a person attempting to make peace with their mistakes.
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!”
Photo Credit: Gus Black
COOKIE HAPPENED Tracklist:
01 CLOBBERED
02 CAP IN HAND
03 ALL FORGOTTEN
04 BAMBOOZLED AGAIN
05 LOST AND BARKING
06 TAKING PICTURES
07 NEW STORY
08 CONGRATULATIONS TO ME
09 ONE RAZZLE, ONE DAZZLE
10 I’M ON STANDBY
11 DUM DUMS
12 THE WAY I WAS MADE
EELS have enjoyed one of the most consistently acclaimed and distinctive careers in modern music. The ever-evolving project of singer, songwriter and producer E (Mark Oliver Everett), EELS have released a remarkable body of work since their 1996 debut Beautiful Freak, combining heartbreak, humour, curiosity and emotional honesty in a catalogue that continues to resonate with audiences worldwide. 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 DISCOGRAPHY
Studio albums:
BEAUTIFUL FREAK (1996)
ELECTRO-SHOCK BLUES (1998)
DAISIES OF THE GALAXY (200)
SOULJACKER (2001)
SHOOTENANNY! (2003)
BLINKING LIGHTS AND OTHER REVELATIONS (2005)
HOMBRE LOBO (2009)
END TIMES (2010)
TOMORROW MORNING (2010)
WONDERFUL, GLORIOUS (2013)
THE CAUTIONARY TALES OF MARK OLIVER EVERETT (2014)
THE DECONSTRUCTION (2018)
EARTH TO DORA (2020)
EXTREME WITCHCRAFT (2022)
EELS TIME! (2024)
Live albums:
ELECTRO-SHOCK BLUES SHOW (1998)
OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL MORNING (2000)
SIXTEEN TONS (TEN SONGS) (2003)
EELS with strings LIVE AT TOWN HALL (2005)
LIVE AND IN PERSON! (2006)
TREMENDOUS DYNAMITE (2010/2011)
ROYAL ALBERT HALL (2014)
LIVE AT LARGO (2019)
GENTLE SOULS: 2021 KCRW SESSION (2021)
Collections:
MEET THE EELS: ESSENTIAL EELS Vol. 1 1996-2006
USELESS TRINKETS: RARITIES & UNRELEASED
EELS SO GOOD: ESSENTIAL EELS Vol. 2 2007-2020
EELS ONLINE
