For someone who’s crafted a reputation for being impossibly weird, wildly eclectic, intangibly cool, but somehow musically accessible, atl rock icon Beck is an awfully quiet, almost unassuming, guy.
His music, save for a handful of hits now and then, has never been the kind of thing that just jumps at you with a hook or a flurry of guitar ferocity. And unlike a certain Jack White (AKA Beck-lite) you get the feeling that when he says he really doesn’t care too much about being famous, he really means it.
Somewhere between crashing studios, popping up at odd places and teasing live songs that he had no intention of putting out on an album anytime soon, Beck got around to recording hundreds of hours of material for SEVERAL new albums. As of now, at least two of these albums have received a green light by Beck for Capitol records. The first offering, “Morning Phase,” is the more “acoustic” of the two upcoming albums.
Nothing too aggressive or too out there jumps out, as the strength of this album lies in its subtlety. Over the course of 13 songs, Beck plucks away heavily at simple acoustic guitar melodies, backed by nothing more than his voice and a hypotonic, plodding drum beat.
But don’t let the “it’s just an acoustic album” moniker fool you. While Beck keeps most of his trademark weirdness and sampling off this record (no doubt saving it for his next album), he manages to slip in plenty of unexpected touches that work surprisingly well.
There are a couple of tricks Beck falls back on constantly throughout this album, and songs can be sharply divided into two camps: straight-up, stripped-down country and poppy, psychedelic folk.
On the former, he keeps it relatively simple and moody on slow stamping numbers like “Say Good-Bye,” “Don’t Let It Go” and “Country Down.” On the latter, he uses tons of sonic layering to create lazy, ethereal landscapes that suck you right in––done best on opening track “Morning.”
Ever an ear for shifting moods, Beck chimes in with orchestral accompaniments when needed and other instrumental surprises to keep those melodies lush and the sounds surprising. The swirling “Blue Moon” is the closest the album ever gets to being remotely playful. For the most part, every note on the album is crafted to cruise comfortably in a zone of zen. “Unforgiven” all but sounds like a country-fried Pink Floyd intro with it’s hypnotizing beat. And ”Heart Is A Drum” adds sonic layers to Beck’s monotone murmur to create a very cool, ethereal chanting effect.
If there’s a downside to all this, it’s that while it all sounds very pretty in small doses, once Beck has played out his hand and the subtle arrangement is no longer a surprise, the rest of the album can become quite unnecessary and dull.
And outside of the cool bit of slide guitar on “Country Down,” there’s nothing that really lifts the album out of its established, plodding doldrum. Rest assured, it’s the prettiest damn doldrum you’ll probably find—just one that probably would have worked better as a light-teaser EP.
Beck thankfully does a great job of making it a pleasant enough ride, but those longing for the days of the Beck who’d shake things up with his more bizarre antics and song choices are going to be kept waiting a little longer.
“Morning Phase”
(Capitol)
February 21, 2014
Grade: B
Verdict: Every note is crafted to cruise comfortably into a zone of zen.
