Beck

Morning Phase

When you first heard “Loser” in 1994, did you think Beck was going to be one of the preeminent musical artists of the next 20 years? And even remotely capable of creating a record like his latest, Morning Phase? Yeah, me neither.

“Loser” was a fun, goofy song from a guy who looked like the kid brother of the recently deceased Kurt Cobain. His future could have easily consisted of rotting in a 90’s dustbin with Crash Test Dummies. Then we heard the rest of Mellow Gold. Along with Superunknown, Ill Communication and others, it would become one of the albums of that summer, soundtracking our lives and memories of that time.

We know what happened next. A series of stellar records, leading up to his psych-folk masterpiece, 2002’s Sea Change. More quality material followed. Beck’s musical universe was vast enough to include Prince, The Beatles, LL Cool J, Nick Drake, The Muppets, etc.

Morning Phase is Beck’s first album since 2008’s Modern Guilt. That’s an eternity for someone who was one of the most prolific artists of the last two decades. For those expecting the horny 20-something from 1999’s endearingly sleazy, electro-funk Midnite Vultures, who insisted that you could “touch my ass if you’re qualified,” the 40-something Beck doesn’t party like it’s 1999 anymore.

This is an older, wiser version of the guy from Sea Change, who just made his equivalent of Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely. A string section is prominent throughout, his father, the composer/conductor David Richard Campbell, leading an orchestra that uses strings as instruments of beauty and intensity. It’s similar to the dynamic Scott Walker and Wally Stott had on 1969’s Scott 3.

“Cycle” announces Beck’s long-awaited return with a 30 second orchestral overture, then leading into “Morning.” For his first album in six years, he greets us with “Woke up this morning from a long night in the storm.” “Woke up this morning …” is a popular phrase used in blues songs, and that’s fitting. With its pristine production and harmonies, Morning Phase is blues in Technicolor.

Jazz legend Stanley Clarke plays upright bass on “Morning,” and contributes electric bass to “Heart is a Drum,” where Beck is credited with “sound collage.”  The droopy sonic effects go perfectly with the lyrics, “Your eyes get stung by the rays of a sinking sun.”

“Say Goodbye” could be Beck singing under Neil Young’s Harvest Moon, with its mid-tempo bluegrass bounce and banjo of Fats Kaplan. The Ringo Starr drums and orchestral backdrop on “Unforgiven” resemble one of John Lennon’s collaborations with Phil Spector, but with a hint of Walking Dead menace in the strings. There’s more where that came from on “Wave,” which is just Beck’s voice and strings, ending with him repeating the word “isolation.” “Country Down” is another Harvest-flavored tune with weepy pedal steel guitar, that asks the question “What’s the use in being found?”

Appropriate for an album consumed with solitude, the majestic closer, “Waking Light” has Beck accompanying himself with himself, performing an ethereal background vocal that sounds like Carl Wilson’s ghost. He leaves us with the words, “When the morning comes to meet you, fill your eyes with waking light.” A watery guitar solo mutates into swirling feedback, the pastoral baroque world we’ve spent time in coming to an abrupt conclusion.

The suddenness of how the record ends perhaps might signal the start of another phase for Beck. Whatever he decides to do next, Morning Phase is the sound of an artist entering a new golden age. And nobody does sea changes like Beck.

Originally published by DAEP Media.