With 'Morning Phase', the seasoned singer-songwriter puts his penchant for musical collages aside and revisits the downbeat vibe of an earlier release
Beck/ Morning Phase
For the past 20 years, American singer-songwriter Beck Hansen, best known as Beck, has been nothing short of a musical magpie. Beck’s back catalogue, comprising 11 studio albums and countless contributions and remixes, boasts a sonic diversity so remarkably impressive that it keeps his fans forever on their toes. In fact, go ahead and name a genre — any genre, and it’s likely that Beck has already tried his hand at it, cutting, copying and pasting it into an eclectic record. Even when he seemed to have exhausted all options and resources, he casually released Song Reader, a 20-song sheet music project issued in 2012.
Having foreshadowed his return to making a proper studio album with singles Defriended, Gimme and I Won’t Be Long last year, Beck is finally back with a simpler, more delicate output, Morning Phase. Six years after the release of Modern Guilt, his latest offering takes its cue from the desolate mood of the singer’s 2002 heartbreak-themed eighth album, Sea Change. The first two songs, Cycle and Morning, work like a unified entity as the former’s 43-second orchestral flourishes segue into the latter’s tender strumming. “But can we start it all over again?/This morning/I’ve lost all my defences/This morning/Won’t you show me the way it used to be?” he begs.
Heart Is a Drum follows suit with the soft harmonies coupled with Beck’s warm, layered vocals, lamenting “Why does it hurt this way?/To come so far to find they’ve closed the gates.” The country-tinged Say Goodbye and Country Down
come equipped with banjo and harmonica, while the excellent lead single Blue Moon leans heavily on the twinkling bluegrass with Beck repeatedly pleading “Don’t leave me on my own/ Left me standing all alone.” Next up is another standout Unforgiven, which benefits from a symphonic surge courtesy of Beck’s father David Campbell. Wave swells against a ghostly orchestral backdrop while the lush atmosphere of Turn Away recalls folk duo Simon and Garfunkel. Morning Phase then comes full circle with closer Waking Light, an introspective number in the same vein as Morning.
All in all, this is a gorgeously gloomy album — one that has the tendency to banish the listener into the depths of despondence throughout its 47-minute running time.
Much like with Sea Change, the 43-year-old musician keeps things consistently subdued, offering up equal parts of heart-wrenching harmonies, affecting acoustic strums and sophisticated string arrangements. The themes here are bittersweet and far from cheerful. And while the languid pace works favourably for the record’s overall tone, our advice is to enjoy it in small doses rather than soldier through it all in one setting. This, indeed, is one of this year’s most emotional releases.
THE PLAYLIST
Yellow Fang/ Aow Ter Jai (Selfish)
For Thailand’s all-female garage-rock trio Yellow Fang, their full-length album The Greatest has been a long time coming to say the least. Six years in the making, the album is packed with impressive singles such as those we’re already familiar with (Geb Pa, Unreal, I Don’t Know) and this new one called Aow Ter Jai (Selfish). The mid-tempo number stands out with scruffy guitars and intelligible vocals — a welcome change from a lot of mumbling the girls tend to fall back on.
Coldplay/ Magic
It turned out Coldplay’s new track Midnight is not the first official single from their upcoming sixth album Ghost Stories, this song is. Magic comfortably straddles the line between the band’s quintessential arena rock sound and the xx’s atmospheric beat consisting of merely bass guitar picks and snare. Frontman Chris Martin cuts through the sonic monotony with his ever-reliable falsetto, belting out “Wanna fall, I fall so far/I wanna fall, I fall so hard/And I call it magic, and I call it true.” I don’t want to resort to cliched hyperbole, but it’s actually quite magical.
George Ezra/ Cassy O
After serenading us with the irresistible single Budapest, rising Bristol singer-songwriter George Ezra releases another instant charmer, Cassy O, from his forthcoming EP of the same name. In stark contrast to his previous offerings, Cassy O oozes the kind of foot-stomping zest fit for a barn party in full swing. Here he can be found crooning wistfully once again about a far-flung destination (“Well, I travelled to Australia/And I travelled there by train/This something might sound strange to you/But on the way I gained a day”) as he pleads to his love interest for a second chance: “Cassy’s got a new plan/Gotta give herself a break/And I try, I try, I try/For heaven’s sake.”
Shivum Sharma/ Flicker
While experimental R&B has become all the rage of late, alternative soul is fast catching up with a crop of equally exciting young, talented artists of which 19-year-old Shivum Sharma is proudly a part. First recorded in his bedroom, his debut track Flicker has received studio lustre courtesy of south London producer Kwes. It begins with twinkling piano chords, then Sharma starts to sing so mesmerisingly airy and rich all at once. “And then the light began to flicker,” he coos as the clarinet and snare drum take over, creating a minimal, yet impactful wall of sound.
Nick Mulvey/ Cucurucu
Former Portico Quartet member Nick Mulvey has given us a another taste of his solo debut album with the intriguingly titled single Cucurucu. Catchy and cheerful, the song finds the English folk singer-songwriter making use of his Cuban guitar training to add a vibrant, tropical flair. Mulvey sings about childhood memories and “a ceaseless longing of a yearning to belong”. If that sounds dispiriting, rest assured that the overall mood is kept on the uplifting side, and that you will have a hard time not swaying along.
