Released on Feb. 25 by Capitol Records, Beck’s 12th album, Morning Phase, marks not just his first proper record since 2008’s Modern Guilt, but also the dawn of a new day for the alternative rock great and the restoration of faith in the art of the album.
While the specific details are blurry, Beck’s delay in releasing a full length album — excluding 2012’s Song Reader, which featured sheet music of 20 new songs for fans to create themselves — was caused by a back injury that left him unable to dance, sing and play the guitar. However, that injury did not stop him from releasing several singles over the past year and a half, pieces of an unfinished project that Beck has shelved for the time being.
Beck is known for his eclectic style and genre-jumping. His 1994 album, One Foot in the Grave, was a testament to lo-fi folk, drawing influence from his days participating in the anti-folk movement. Meanwhile, his widely-acclaimed 1996 album, Odelay, proved an eccentric whirlwind of samples and instrumentation. Additionally, 1999’s Midnite Vultures showed a flare of big-band funk.
However, Morning Phase sees both a return to form as well as a leap forward for Beck Hansen, now 43, due to its similarities to his 2002 album and universally acclaimed masterpiece, Sea Change.
The comparison between the two albums is impossible to escape. A press release by Beck and early reviews labeled Morning Phase as an uplifting companion piece to the solemn Sea Change. In fact, the same people brought the two records to life. Enlisted for recording were many of the artists that worked on Sea Change, including long-time session and touring-musician Justin Meldal-Johnsen as well as Beck’s own father, David Campbell, who provided string arrangements.
That being said, the two albums certainly have their differences. While both records are deeply intimate in their frequent flashes of raw emotion, Sea Change feels more like a journal entry from a post-breakup romantic. In contrast, Morning Phase, evokes a quiet optimism over mournful introspection.
Beck has described some of the new songs found on Morning Phase as “California music” and elaborated on the album’s influences.
“I’m hearing the Byrds, Crosby Stills and Nash, Gram Parsons, Neil Young — the bigger idea of what that sound is to me,” he said.
The album’s opening track, “Cycle,” a short instrumental and orchestral piece, feels like a sunrise to meet the record’s first proper song, “Morning,” which sounds like a sister piece to Beck’s 2002 single, “Golden Age.”
“Heart as a Drum,” an up-tempo testament to Beck’s liveliness even in an acoustic setting, keeps the pulse of the album beating onward.
First single “Blue Moon” shows Beck admitting that there is room to move forward but does so without looking behind him.
“I’m so tired of being alone,” he confesses.
Even so, the beautiful crooning of the chorus feels more like nostalgia than a cry for help.
The themes of longing and internal turmoil that define Sea Change, however, float to the surface on “Wave,” a desolate track that features Beck sans-guitar and backed by ebbs and flows of strings.
“Isolation, isolation,” Beck wails towards the end of the song.
It is a reminder that even a ray of sunlight does not mean the end of the storm.
Tracks like “Unforgiven,” “Blackbird Chain” and “Country Down” most strongly resemble the “California music” that Beck chose to characterize Morning Phase; album closer “Waking Light” is an epic climax to end what The Daily Beast has labeled as possibly “the last great singer-songwriter album” of all time.
Beck has, once again, proven himself perhaps the most versatile musician in modern music; already receiving immense critical acclaim, Morning Phase promises to please Beck fans and give them what they have been waiting long and patiently for.
A second, more electric Beck album is tentatively scheduled for release later this year. High-profile collaborators such as Pharrell are said to be on board.
Catch Beck at this year’s Firefly Festival, which will take place June 19-22 in Dover, Del.
