Beck
Modern Guilt
Universal
Beck wasn't kidding when he said he was going to rush release his next record. I received this disc two days ago. Yesterday I saw posters on the street advertising it. And it's in stores tomorrow (July 5th in Australia).
Which, for a record so concerned with death, displacement, guilt and loss of identity, fits in neatly with the ethos of shedding the promotion, image and PR talk months before its release. Here we are then with a truer listen, cleansed from hyperbole. The skeleton with make-up on.
Modern Guilt has been created essentially from a two man show: Beck and Gnarls Barkley producer Danger Mouse. The two seem on an even keel here; the producer being as prevalent - perhaps even more so - than the singer himself. Drums are clipped and loud, rubbery bass is at the fore, vocals are double-tracked and buried, all manner of reverb drenched keys, moans, strings and melancholic sounds rest in the background. Notably there's no attempt to make it sound like a real "band" - what with its sudden edits and computer hum - which serves to exacerbate the coldness that floats throughout. Seems a sensible match for the genre-hopping popster who's always had melancholic undertones on even some of his best jams - 'Tropicalia', 'Jack Ass'...the entire Seachange record - but alas; this time Beck's left his hook book at the door.
That's not to say it's not a good record. Even a glum Beck remains alluring. First single 'Chemtrails' kicks along over skittering drums while Beck reflects on seeing people "falling from the sky" and singing "So many people, where did they go?" On 'Modern Guilt' he sings "Don't know what I've done but I feel ashamed" and "everything's starting to hit me" - to a snappy beat but minimal accompaniment. It's maudlin, ghostly reflections with a pulse. But one of Beck's great strengths is when he turns reflective he manages to still remain inclusive. The record sounds warm and inviting despite it's out-of-body subject matter and out-of-step-heart.
At 37 the once boy wonder finds himself at the crossroads of not just a career, but a life. And it's that realisation that weighs most on Modern Guilt. As such perhaps the dislocated hodge-podge of musical styles and demos write large are the correct soundtrack for such matter. A bit wrong. A bit troublesome. Weary in mixed acceptance. Initially it sounds like a "between" record; a bridge to something more definitive. With the benefit of hindsight however, sometimes they turn out to be the best.