CD REVIEW: BECK – Morning Phase

Shane | 19 March 2014 | Reply

CD REVIEW: BECK – Morning Phase
Capitol Records
21 February 2014
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
9/10

We’d never accuse Beck of retreading old ground, with a back catalogue that reads like a magpie’s nest of inspired influences and rampant genre hopping, but on Morning Phase he revisits the melancholy soundscapes of his beloved heartbreak album, 2002’s Seachange.

Much has changed in the ensuing dozen years – not least of which includes a debilitating back injury that sidelined the musical adventurer for some time, and perhaps that’s the life changer this time around, rather than a broken heart.

Musically Morning Phase is stunning. It’s like eating the lightest soufflé… it seems as light as air, and it’s gone in a fleeting moment… but it takes immense talent to make it happen, love and passion to render it complete, and pure art to make it look perfect on the plate, Morning Phase is that soufflé.

There’s a few moments when one wonders if the title is a play on words – is Beck mourning something? Or is this the sunrise to his newest dawn. He’s an enigmatic fellow, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know.

Using many of the same musos as he did for Seachange, the sound is very similar – folky introspection with strings and all the right production moves. Lyrically though, he remains elusive, hinting and winking at his true meanings, without ever laying the truth out for all to see.

Why would he though? He’s forged a career on being relentlessly artistic and completely intriguing (his last ‘album’, Songbook, was the sheet music for twelve songs that he refused to record but encouraged others to do and upload via the internet!), but the music never lies. Morning Phase is as enthralling as any Siren’s song, it will draw you in and entrance you with it’s mysteries only making the content more enticing.

https://www.facebook.com/Beck

http://www.beck.com/