Sea Change

The only Beck album I've listened to previously was the 2017 one that no one liked, so I wasn't sure what to expect going into this. There was some lovely orchestration on this and while it was definitely a bit miserable, it wasn't as miserable as I was expecting, which was nice.

Normally I like Beck, but this is sad Beck and I don't care for sad music. Back to Odelay I go!

It's. Just. Radiohead.

Now, I still liked it. It's still very pretty with beautiful arrangements, and Beck's voice fits the music nicely. But the arrangements themselves, the chord progressions, the sound design, it's just goddamn Radiohead. This is what happens when you listen to Karma Police or Lucky or Nude or Fake Plastic Trees exclusively. When it doesn't remind me of them, it reminds me of Neil Young. So at least it's not a monolith.

Only after typing that paragraph did I realize that the album was produced by Nigel Godrich, who also produced almost all of Radiohead's stuff. So I guess I can't place the blame entirely on Beck. But I still fear that the album is too derivative for me to get that much enjoyment out of it. Whenever I listened to it, I could only think about what I'd rather be listening to instead. But still, I didn't hate it. I just don't feel like I got a strong sense of what Beck is actually like. I just know where his music tastes lie.

This is beautiful, but it's got nothing else going for it. All the interesting bits were ripped from Histoire de Melody Nelson.

From what i can tell, Sea Change was mostly influenced by the time Beck broke up with his longtime girlfriend, And you can tell he is not taking it well in this album because god it sounds so sad. The music is very melancholic and the lyrics are as well. That stuff is what makes the album pretty good. It is relaxing and melancholic at the same time which i really like about it. This is a good album if you don't mind crying a bit throughout.
Best Song: Lonesome Tears
Worst Song: Paper Tiger

En ganska blek Nick Drake-kopia.

Chill vibes and really nice acoustic instrumentation. I never really got into Beck for whatever reason in spite of liking a lot of similar music but I dig this album.