Sea Change is a gorgeous, sprawling album of heavy-hearted introspection. I think it's Beck's finest album and, as is so often the case, it comes out of a time of heartbreak and trouble.
Beck's new and best album may as well be dubbed the first album of a daring duo: Beck and Radiohead's producer Nigel Godrich. Godrich seems liberated by the slow, sparse arrangements of these heartbreak narratives, so that Beck's lyrics creak and groan like a battered ship at sea. And the sea... the sea is an ocean of strings more overpowering than on any rock record I can remember.
Yet, this stands out as a rare Godrich production because the vocals stand out so resonantly that we really get the feeling we're inside Beck's head. And what a strange, sad trip that journey is.
Okay, so the story goes that these songs were written right after Beck's breakup with his girlfriend. So what? He has the dignity to keep the specific personal stuff private. The real headline here is that, for the first time, the listener will probably get a good handle on what most of the songs are about. The lyrics are less ambiguous. (To say they are straightforward would be a gross exaggeration.) I've always enjoyed Beck's wordplay, but he's kept me at a distance because I rarely get an inkling of what they're
really about. (Some of the satires on Midnite Vultures are exceptions, but they're just that: cultural commentary and satire. Nothing terribly inspiring or moving about that.)
When I first heard "Round the Bend", the album's centerpiece and the strongest song in Beck's whole catalogue, my first thought... right during the opening strains... was "My goodness, this sounds like Nick Drake's "River Man." (If you don't know who Nick Drake is, check out Five Leaves Left, one of the most beautiful, syrup-thick, luxuriantly moody records of the last 30 years.) The song then unfolded not as a cover, but as a sort of sequel. Then, to discover that "Sunday Sun" has a predecessor on the same Drake album that includes "River Man," a song called "Saturday Sun," sealed the deal. This might be Beck's album of wishful thinking...what if the master of despondent, autumn poetry was alive today and really liked Radiohead? What would he write if he had just broken up with his longtime girlfriend?
Beck doesn't suggest anything beyond the merest hope of healing. But art is not required to give us the whole picture. If it gives us part of the picture as fully and honestly as possible, we should be able to fill in the rest. The music, while sad, is beautiful, and proof enough that all things work together for good.
Other coverage for this album
The Rebel Base 2002Reviewed by Xavier Lawson TrinidadSea Change album finds Beck bummed, but refreshingly so. Most albums with song titles like "Lonesome Tears" and "Already Dead" usually fill us with whiny stories of heartbreak that seem just barely above the maturity level of high school teen drama and what Jenny said to Sarah in study hall. Sea Change is very different. Beck's songs of heartbreak, wonder, and feelings of isolation are dealt with…The Phantom Tollbooth 2002Reviewed by Jon SingerThe eccentric star is so well-respected in the music world that he's in a unique position: Rather than wondering if Beck can keep up with the latest trends or if he still "has it," fans and critics wonder what he will do next. Beck is on his own clock not borrowed time. Sea Change, Beck's latest release, directly mirrors 1998's Mutations as an introspective acoustic record. The album stifles the…Similar sounding releases
2001The Divine ComedyRegeneration
2003Robert DeebleThirteen Stories
2002CousteauSirena
2002Neil FinnOne All
2004John VandersliceCellar Door
2004The River BendsAnd Flows Into the Sea
