Earlier this week I was thinking
about giving up the guitar since I rarely find or make any time to practice. But
then as I puzzled through Springsteen’s “Tougher
Than The Rest” with my teacher, Josh, I realized that it isn’t just about
being able to play well that draws me to the guitar. It is also about having a
deeper understanding of all the music that I love. That alone kept me going.
Learning an instrument is doing for music what getting an English degree did
for poetry; it is making me appreciate it more.
So on to an album I definitely
appreciated.
Disc 634 is….Morning Phase
Artist: Beck
Year of Release: 2014
What’s up with the Cover? Beck’s hat against
the dappled morning sun gives him a kind of black halo. Groovy.
How I Came To Know It: I’ve been a Beck fan for a long
time, and this was just me buying his latest record.
How It Stacks Up: I have nine Beck albums (I’m missing a couple of his
early obscure ones). “Morning Phase” is his best album since 2005’s “Guero.” I
rank it 5th, just behind “Midnite Vultures” and bumping lesser
albums like “Modern Guilt,” “The Information,” “Odelay” and
“Mutations” all down a slot.
Rating: 4 stars
With its simple melodies, atmospheric
reverb and stories of heartache “Morning Phase” is a natural sequel to Beck’s 2002
album “Sea Change”. The main difference is there is an acceptance in “Morning
Phase” that adds an element of cheer to the record that the deeply morose “Sea
Change” never manages.
Like “Sea Change” the songs are
about the breakdown of relationships, and how sometimes the people you know
best are the very same people you have a hard time communicating with. Instead
of the hopeless lack of understanding that can happen when love collapses,
these songs have a refreshing self-awareness in them.
Beck is not blaming anyone other
than himself here, and yet the songs manage to avoid straying into self-loathing.
Instead this is a mature record from an artist that understands that all you
can do when something has gone wrong is look in the mirror and see what you can
salvage in terms of a lesson.
There is a sliver of hope on “Morning
Phase” that supposes that somehow at the end of the darkness there is a chance
the two doomed lovers could once again be together. On “Morning” Beck sees the natural world collapsing around him:
“Mountains are falling
They don’t have nowhere to go
The ocean’s a diamond
That only shines when you’re alone.”
Yet the song asks goes on to ask “Can we start it all over again?” Maybe
it is impossible, but Beck nevertheless holds onto that hope, without feeling
like it is the only thing he has to cling to. On “Unforgiven” he sings “somewhere
unforgiven/I will wait for you” suggesting he’ll stick it out for a while
and see if love comes back to him. It never feels desperate and he refuses to
use his grief as a weapon. Instead, he simply says he will hold onto hope, come
what may. If only we could all experience loss with such grace.
This quality of grace is
reinforced by the music, which is soothing and reassuring. The production is
thick and dreamy, with layered effects that give Beck’s vocals a choir-like
quality. The melodies are simple, and Beck plays around inside chord structures
to evoke a lot of different emotions all at once – exactly the type of thing
the heart feels when it experiences loss. On “Turn Away” the vocal effects are so seamless it reminds you of the
sixties harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel or the Mamas and the Papas.
Even at his darkest, on a song
like “Wave” where Beck sings about
isolation, the isolation feels more like a warm bath in the sea than a man alone
and adrift.
Beck’s guitar work is particularly
pretty throughout the record, with lots of slow chord strums broadening the
sound. Beck employs a large string section as well, adding depth where the
guitar alone can’t hold the mood.
The album’s best song, “Heart is a Drum,” is a perfect example of
how Beck pulls hope out of an album that is essentially about a lack of
communication. Musically, it has a simple picking pattern on an acoustic guitar
that had me thinking strongly of the quieter moments on Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,”
particularly “Goodbye Blue Sky.” Even
as the heart sinks with the setting sun, even as grief threatens to pull you
under, Beck reminds us that we are strangely united in in our isolation, or as
he puts it:
“Your heart is a drum
Keeping time with everyone.”
Walking to work listening to this
song I felt I could just reach out and hug everyone I passed. Since I didn’t want
to be arrested I refrained, but the thought was there.
“The Information” and “Modern
Guilt” are both good records, but on “Morning Phase” Beck has returned to his
finest form by somehow softening even love’s hardest lessons.
Best tracks: Morning,
Heart is a Drum, Say Goodbye, Unforgiven, Turn Away, Country Down
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