Beck - Modern Guilt

Confessions Of An Accidental Beck Fan.

I’ve been recently coming to terms with the fact that I seem to really like Beck, an artist I’ve basically ignored for my adult life outside of a well-worn copy of One Foot In The Grave. I recently picked up a couple of things here and there and no matter how much I tried not to let them, they just grew on me. His voice is fine and his songwriting is grade A, but the thing that pushes him past most other artists is his willingness to embrace his producers as he records an album. Judging by only the music itself, he seems eager to mutate his sound to a shared vision, a successful philosophy. This new album, in case you somehow haven’t heard, was produced by Danger Mouse, the creative force behind the last five years. I haven’t heard everything this producer has done, but everything I have heard I’ve liked and so it was with a fair amount of excitement that I decided to embrace my inner Beck fan and look forward to this release, hipster cred be damned.

So does it live up to the hype? Sure, why not? The album starts slow with “Orphans” but quickly hits a high spot with “Gamma Ray,” a fantastic song with a great rhythm. These two are immediately followed by another meandering introspective track succeeded by the title track, another toe-tapper. This formula works beautifully for these first four tracks but after that the album begins to lose its focus. There is a measurable decline in energy between “Youthless” and “Walls,” both fine songs but not up to the heart and soul of the earlier tracks and we finally wander into the desert at “Replica.” In the end, the whole album can’t quite live up to the promise of its creators and the brilliance of its first half. The closer, “Volcano,” is excellent and does do something to redeem the back side. If this were vinyl, side 1 would get constant playing and side 2 about every other listen. On compact disk, the album is short enough at 33 and change to just run constantly.

The production is everything you would expect and hope for from these two artists, regularly finding that sweet spot on the other side of lush, back towards minimalist. There’s a breeziness to the songs that feels almost effortless until you realize just how many layers of instrumentation are in a given song. This is a neat trick and the source of Danger Mouse’s appeal. The louder the volume, the richer the experience, as this really is an immersive sonic world these two artists have created. While this album wasn’t everything I was hoping for, it is still a good addition to both these artists’ canons and I’m sure I’ll spin it as much as the new Gnarls Barkley or, say, Beck’s Guero, but probably not quite as much as Mutations. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if more time raises my estimation of this work.

For fans of Beck and Danger Mouse. If you’re vague about these artists, you need to leave your cave more often.