
<strong>Via NPR</strong>

Too many observers confuse Eef's sincerity for irony. Maybe it's the pop-culture references he employs, or the dry sarcasm he exudes in interviews, or even the name of his band, . But he's as misunderstood and underrated as just about any working songwriter. He's capable of utterly breathtaking love songs — like "Find Love," which has just been resuscitated in the movie Janie Jones — and he still writes music that finds a way to soothe and tickle at the same time.

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So of course he's just recorded an EP of covers — inspired by in the A.V. Club Undercover series — and of course it's freaking gorgeous. Who better to take an overblown '80s punchline, find the stark beauty and good-heartedness therein, reinvent it as something wonderful, and inevitably be misinterpreted as a smug irony merchant in the process of doing so? You can't cover "Don't Stop Believin'" without inviting a strong reaction, but damned if it isn't an achingly pretty song when slowed down, rendered softly, and sung sympathetically. Imagine Kermit the Frog drying the tears of the brokenhearted, and you're just about there.

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