Poor Beck, he’s one of the most exciting artists of the 1990s with such albums as “Mellow Gold”, “One Foot in the Grave”, “Mutations”, “Midnite Vultures”, and his 1996 genre-defining masterpiece “Odelay” but acclaim and fame doesn’t bring him happiness unfortunately. In late 2000, the brilliant Beck Hansen broke up with his longtime girlfriend and personal stylist Leigh Limon after a nine-year relationship that seemed to crush Beck’s psyche, especially during the commercial disappointment for “Midnite Vultures”, an album of soul, R&B, and funk music that didn’t do well with the public although fans and critics considered a great genre exercise album that showed Beck as a soul man. With the commercial disappointment of “Midnite Vultures” and the breakup with Limon, Beck went into hiding only contributing to work with artists such as Marianne Faithfull and the French-electronic duo Air. In 2002, Beck finally returned to the scene with the year’s most heart wrenching albums titled “Sea Change”.

While Beck has never been an introspective artists, he had written songs about love sucks before with “*sshole” and a few on his 1998 acoustic, tropoica album “Mutations”. On “Sea Change”, he lays it all down and reveals the pain of his breakup with Leigh Limon. While the album can easily compared to the 1975 Bob Dylan masterpiece “Blood on the Tracks” lyrically and emotionally, the music of “Sea Change” is a bit more diverse with acoustic ballads, country songs, and electronic textures along with an eerie orchestral arrangement from David Campbell along with the dense and artsy production of Nigel Godrich, the man behind the classic albums by Radiohead.

In past albums, Beck’s vocal were always more upbeat and clear but on “Sea Change”, they’re a little hoarse and groggily but it’s the perfect tone for Beck’s internal pain as he sings each song at a very uncomforting and melancholic tone as he reveals his heartbreak. While breakup albums like “Blood on the Tracks”, Richard & Linda Thompson’s “Shoot Out the Lights”, Marvin Gaye’s “Here, My Dear”, and Matthew Sweet’s “Girlfriend” are albums that are raw, cerebral, and very uncomforting to listen to, even if you’re in a breakup, they’re generally some of the best albums ever made as the artist gets a chance to connect with the audience at its intimacy. With “Sea Change”, Beck has made another masterpiece that shows him as a songwriter who can find more ways to challenge the conventions of pop music with eerie sounds and dreary lyrics of how much love stinks.

The album opens up with the country-folk ballad “The Golden Age” as Beck plays a melancholic acoustic guitar that is accompanied by smooth, country slides and hollow rhythms. He then sings, “Put your hands on the wheel/Let the golden age begin/Let the window down/Feel the moonlight on your skin/Let the desert wind, cool your aching head/Let the weight of the world, drift away instead”. Then comes a blossoming chorus of “Ohhhh, these days I barley get by/I don’t even try” as he continues to sing the pain and loneliness of his breakup with such haunting lyrics of “It’s a treacherous road with a desolated view/There’s distant lights but here they’re far and few/And the sun don’t shine when it’s day/You gotta drive all night just to feel like you’re ok” as it leads to the chorus with an atmospheric synthesizer coda at the end with melodic keyboard and guitar chimes accompanying the track.

“Paper Tiger” is a smooth, bass-driven track with country guitar riffs and symphonic arrangements from David Campbell. Beck sings, “Just like a paper tiger/Torn apart by idle hands/Through the helter skelter morning/Fix yourself while you still can/No more ashes to ashes/No more cinders from the sky/Let all the laws of creation tell a man how to die” that leads to the chorus of “Oh deserts down below us/And storms up above/Like a stray dog gone defective/Like a paper tiger in the sun” as Campbell’s string orchestra sweeps through the track in the album’s smooth, mid-tempo vibe. “Guess I’m Doing Fine” is another acoustic-folk ballad as Beck opens up with a melancholic acoustic guitar solo with atmospheric country textures in the background as he sings, “There’s a bluebird at my window/I can’t hear the song he sings/All the jewels in heaven/They don’t look the same to me/I just wade the tides that turned/Till I learn to leave the past behind” that leads to the heart wrenching chorus of “It’s only likes that I’m living/It’s only tears that I’m crying/It’s only you that I’m losing/Guess I’m doing fine”. Beck’s low-sounding vocals capture the emotion of his broken heart as he sings each lyric with uncompromising pain that just hits you very hard as he closes the song with a melancholic harmonica that harkens the mournful pain in Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks” album.

“Lonesome Tears” is an eerie and symphonic-driven song with hypnotic strings and ominous electronic textures as Beck sings, “Lonesome tears/I can’t cry them anymore/I can’t think of they’re for/Oh they ruin me every time/But I’ll try to leave behind some days/These tears just can’t erase/I don’t need them anymore” that leads to the powerful chorus of “How could this love/Ever turning/Never turn its eye on me/How could this love/Ever changing/Never change the way I feel” that is very striking, especially in its ominous string arrangement and eerie synthesizers as it channels Beck’s pain at its darkest. “Lost Cause” is a smooth, country-acoustic ballad with sweeping synthesizers and acoustic guitar riffs as Beck sings, “Your sorry eyes cut through the wine/They make it hard to leave you alone/Leave you here wearing your wounds/Waving your guns at somebody new” as it leads to the chorus of “Baby you’re lost/Baby you’re lost/Baby you’re a lost cause”. Beck’s cryptic lyrics continues as he sings, “There’s too many people you used to know/They see you coming/They see you go/They know your secrets and you know theirs/This town is crazy/Nobody cares” as it leads to the chorus along with an added line where he sings, “I’m tired of fighting/I’m tired of fighting/Fighting for a lost cause”.

“End Of The Day” is another smooth country ballad with sliding riffs as Beck sings, “Seen the end of the day come too soon/Not a lot to say/Not a lot to do/You played the game/You owe nothing to yourself/Rest today for tomorrow you can’t tell/You can’t tell” as it is followed by a melodic country guitar riff. Beck continues to sing his cryptic lyrics of “Seen the end of the day come too late/Seen the love you had turning into hate/Had to act like didn’t even care/But I did so I got stranded standing there/Standing there/It’s nothing that I haven’t seen before/But it still kills me like it did before” as it is followed by smooth, country textures and swirling synthesizers. “It’s All In Your Mind” is another acoustic-driven track that opens up with an acoustic guitar and Beck’s haunting vocals as he sings the chorus of “Well it’s all in your mind/It’s all in your mind/Well it’s all in your mind/And I wanted to be/I wanted to be/Wanted to be your good friend” as he is followed by atmospheric keyboards and smooth guitar textures as he sings, “Well I cannot believe/You got a devil up your sleeve/And he’s talking to me/And I cannot believe” as he explores the psyche of his bleak mind following the breakup that is led by his haunting vocals.

“Round The Bend” is an eerie and symphonic piece with dense string orchestral arrangements as Beck sings, “We don’t have to worry/Life goes where it does/Faster than a bullet/From an empty gun/Turn yourself over” as he sings the chorus of “Loose change we could spend/Where are we going/Round, round, round the bend”. David Campbell’s eerie string arrangement with Nigel Godrich’s dense production serves as centerpiece behind the song as Beck sings, “People pushing harder/Up against themselves/Make their daggers sharper/than their faces tell/Babe, it’s your time now” that leads to the chorus. “Already Dead” opens up with a melancholic acoustic guitar track as Beck sings, “Time wears away/All the pleasures of the day/All the treasures you could hold/Days turn to sand/Losing strength in every hand/They can’t hold you anymore” as he leads to the eerie chorus of “Already dead to me now, already dead to me now/’Cuz it feels like I’m watching something die” as he gets darker and more cryptic into his lyrics of the relationship disintegrating in front of his own eyes.

“Sunday Sun” is the most abrasive track on the album where Beck plugs in a bit though he’s playing a washy acoustic guitar track upon layers of melodic-filled keyboards and piano as he sings, “Haven’t got a lot to learn/And my eyes they stray again/Looking for a satellite/In the rays of heaven again” as he follows it up with the haunting chorus of “There’s no other ending/Sunday sun/Yesterday is ending (mending in 2nd chorus)/Sunday sun”. He continues through his angst-filled lyrics as the drums accompany him as he sings, “Jealous minds walk in a line/And their faces jade the strain/Stranded in infinity rooms/And they’re safe from any harm” as it is followed by melodic pianos that leads him to singing the chorus again where it ends with waves of guitar feedbacks and drum crashes as a representation of anger of his relationship.

“Little One” opens up with a melodic-driven acoustic guitar solo as Beck sings, “Go to sleep/We’re so tired now/Altogether in a snake pit of souls/New days/To throw your chains away/To try to hang your hopes on the wind” as it leads to the chorus of “Little one/Just a little way/Today all we need is waiting” as he is accompanied by a piano and country guitar textures as he sings about readying to move on. The album’s closer “Side Of The Road” is another acoustic-based ballad with smooth, country guitar textures as Beck sings, “Something better than this/Someplace I’d like to go/To let all I’ve learned/Tell me what I know/About the kind of life/I never thought I’d live/Till the ugly truth/Showed me what it did/Let it pass/On the side of the road/What a friend could tell me now”. After a brief instrumental break of acoustic, country guitar riffs, Beck sings his lonely lyrics as he sings, “On a borrowed dime/In different light/You might see what/The other side looks like/In a random room/Behind an iron door/Kick an empty can/Across an empty floor/Let it pass/On the side of the road/What a friend could tell me now” as he finishes it with a soft, acoustic-driven solo that closes the album.

“Sea Change” is by far one of the most revealing albums of the year. Already getting raves from several major publications in the U.K. and the U.S., particularly Rolling Stone where David Fricke called “Sea Change” his “Blood on the Tracks” and it’s best described as his “Blood on the Tracks” while it should be reminded that he took a lot of guts and heartache to make this amazing record. While it’s certainly no “Odelay”, it is still one of the best albums he has recorded and it’s one record that many fans should own. With Beck now touring with the Flaming Lips, he is revealing his pain to his audience each date he plays and again, it’s an accomplishment that he’s moving on with his life and probably give some meaning to someone who too has love trouble. In an era of meaningless pop and rock music, it’s great that Beck is connecting to his audience with his heartbreak in a way not many of today’s artist can convey and with “Sea Change”, a new side of Beck is revealed for the first time and it’s now the next step of his evolution.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Going to Sleep

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