The Bottom Line: Beck's Sea Change would have easily been the album of the year had The Flaming Lips not released an album in 2002. Absolutely amazing mood music.
There are some artists that no one on Earth knows what to make of. And that can be both a good and bad thing. Unfortunately, with the way popular music is these days, it’s usually the latter. There are too many phonies out their maintaining that they’re something that they are most definitely not. Two immediate examples that come to mind are Fred Durst and Eminem - easily the biggest phoneys that the music industry has seen in years. By comparison, at least boy band, bubblegum pop groups are comfortable with their existence as corporate tools - both the aforementioned fellows seem to think that they’re actually appealing to a group other than the same twelve-year-old schlocks who obsess unhealthily who love the boy bands. They have illusions of grandeur; that they actually create meaningful “art.” Hardly.
Beck, though. Beck is a different story. Indeed, no one really does know what to make of Beck. But unlike the previous examples, that’s actually a good thing. What’s this guy’s deal exactly, anyways? He seems to blend dozens of totally unrelated and illogical styles of music to create a wild and excessive mishmash of sonic warbling - but, somehow, it works. And it doesn’t just work on a small-scale level in a way that appeals to the more discernable music fans of the world, no. It, in fact, appeals to a large sector of the American and world population. I have burned copies of all of his records, and I listen to them once in a while. No one I know really has anything against him. He writes catchy, likeable tunes that everyone enjoys. It makes good background music, and it appeals to a wide variety of music fans - agreeable music for everyone from the trip-hoppers to the stoners.
Unfortunately, it’s that exact same quality that, I believe, has really held Beck back. If you’ll notice, there aren’t an extraordinary number of absolute hardcore Beck fans, and those that are, from my experience, are a tad eccentric. I mean, when was the last time you saw anyone crossing the street wearing a Beck tee. Or Beck blaring from a stereo on the balcony of an apartment across the street? Instead, much of Beck’s album sales are probably a direct resort of people hearing a couple of songs, and saying to themselves, “Hey, what the hell?”
And it was precisely that reason that I went out to the local record store. Well, not exactly. Truthfully, I hadn’t heard a single track from the album in question. I just wandered up and down the aisles, eventually stumbling upon a display for the new Beck album Sea Change. And, well, I thought, “Hey, what the hell?”
Beck Hansen is one of the more unorthodox artists in the pop pantheon today. In the process of describing bands, some people will often depict the group’s style as “indescribable.” That statement will never be truer than it is in the context of Beck. His music is truly indescribable. He is the result of twenty-plus years of American pop culture, a blend of everything from new wave synth-pop to breakfast cereal commercials and late night replays of Cheech & Chong. He borrows liberally from the hip hop culture, as well as punk rock, and even a little bit of vocal pop. He even experiments with general sonic landscapes - blips and bleeps to backwards loops and all kinds of wild studio trickery. It’s all rather impressive, yet also hard to absorb for many people. This is perhaps why he has become seen as a bit of a novelty act.
Sea Change, I believe, is Beck’s attempt to break out on his own and create a legitimate image for himself as a songwriter and musician. He wants to create a legacy for himself that will outlive him. As a result, you won’t hear any of the standard Beck bells and whistles that saturate some of his other works. They have instead been replaced by a more mild-mannered Beck; a Beck with simply an acoustic guitar and a microphone; a Beck that is able to release some pure, raw emotion.
Where his past records borrowed from a wide variety of genres ranging from hip hop to techno, Sea Change is a record that strips just about everything away, relying solely on a heavy dosing of acoustic folk rock. In essence, it sounds as if Beck is trying his hand at creating a timeless record, much like two folk-rock behemoths that came before him did: Neil Young with Harvest and Bob Dylan with Blood On The Tracks. And this is no coincidence, as both heavily influenced the young pseudo-poets work.
And, frankly, Beck achieved what he set out to. Sea Change is an absolutely sweeping, grand record from start to finish, a winding narrative that is both heartbreaking and inspirational. If he isn’t remembered for his more eccentric outings, he surely will be for this album because of its grandiose and sheer musicality. It seems that perhaps Beck had been hiding behind cheesy, retro-rock images to cover up for a lack of song writing ability, but that seems hardly possible with the emotional breadth displayed here.
For the uninformed, Sea Change came on the heels of Beck’s break-up with his long-time girlfriend. Or so goes the story, anyway. As a result, the record is understandably mellow, and perhaps even lethargic or apathetic, but it never drifts so far into that territory so as to alienate the listener. It’s a deeply personal album, but it has a mass appeal because of Beck’s absolutely hauntingly beautiful song writing and insight into the realm of heartbreak. People can relate to it because everyone knows the feeling of heartbreak and loneliness. Everyone, at one time or another in their life has had that sinking feeling of despair that comes when they are alone. It’s a universal feeling, expressed in a universally beautiful way.
The folk-rock sound that Beck and his back-up musicians achieve on Sea Change is attained mainly through the use of an acoustic guitar. There’s minimal keyboard here, and the background effects are kept to a low - becoming part of the mood in a Pink Floydian way, rather than distracting the audience. In fact some of the background effects are extremely impressive. The slow swirl on Paper Tiger in particular gives the track a hazy feel that is particular mood enhancing. In fact, there are quite a few numbers that sound like classic Pink Floyd - although in a vague, no-descript way. The interplay between the guitar and Beck’s voice, however, is the real focal point of the music, and is the most intriguing aspect of the entire recording.
Sea Change begins with The Golden Age, a slow song that sets the tone for the rest of the album. It’s built on the strength of a slowly strumming acoustic guitar and soft and mellow keyboard progression. Lyrically, the song captures beautifully the feeling of lost love, as Beck’s voice strains to reach the higher notes of the song. All of the elements of the song, when combined, create the illusion of driving down the street alone on a cold and dark night, which is the comparison to loneliness used in the lyrics.
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
The mellow and morose approach continues on Paper Tiger, perhaps Sea Change’s most standout track. Beginning with a brief, loud and deep drumbeat, it quickly reverts to a structure similar to the song that preceded it. Beck uses a couple of twangs of the guitar, letting a symphony do the rest, swelling, and dropping to accompany the mood of the song. The violins slash violently at intervals during the verses, and the result is a very operatic number. Beck’s voice swells along with the symphony, utilizing some voice digitizing effects, but otherwise keeps the same half-whisper through the song.
Guess I’m Doing Fine is almost solely Beck in the studio with a microphone in the guitar. Other than a slow, measured drumbeat to keep time, there is nothing else to be heard. The guitar rotates between chords and simple picked notes, and you can hear the squeal of fingers on guitar strings as Beck slides his paws up and down the fretboard slowly and purposefully. "It's only lies 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 whispers quietly as the music plays, wondering about the sad ironies and idiosyncrasies of life.
Already Dead starts out with a guitar interlude, before establishing a wild rhythm that twists and turns as the vocals progress. Although soft like the rest of the album, the guitars here are different; they sound more like they have their own significant part of the song rather than just accompanying the vocals. The melancholy bits of music thread throughout the entire 2:58 of the song, creating a path of low valleys and high peaks. Beck tries his hand at a more falsetto voice, and while the straining squeak is far from an ideal, the pure honesty of it remains very disarming and pretty.
The things that Beck Hansen wonders about on Sea Change are the same questions that poets and philosophers have theorized about four thousands and thousands of years. Why do we do the things we do, what exactly is fate, and why do people do stupid things, why must we hurt? Sea Change is an introspective album, as Beck asks himself all of these questions, and an amazing album at that. The melodies are catchy, while the lyrics are well fleshed-out, and thoughtful. The guitar accompanies the vocals well, and all of the aspects of the music come together in a harmonious way. And while Beck may never find the answers to the questions he’s asking, the journey he takes to get them is as striking and honest as any record that’s been released in the past ten years.
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