Published on Feb 9, 2004
With the exception of Bob Dylan, no other contemporary artist
has worn so many guises in recent memory as Beck. He has played the
“one-hit wonder” boy when he released “Loser,” he played earnest
country-rocker with his bootlegs, namely
One Foot In The Grave, alt-rock icon (
Odelay is widely-regarded as one of the best albums of the
’90s) and with
Midnite Vultures, he tried to play an ironic, funky,
sex-obsessed party boy with mixed results. And even though his
breakup with designer Leigh Limon was by no means staged, it only
seemed inevitable that he would add “breakup album architect” to
his expansive resume.
Of all the well-known breakup albums in rock, Sea Change is the
most resigned of the bunch. There’s no “step up to the batting
cage” disses to former mates, such as Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own
Way,” Bob Dylan’s “Idiot Wind” or even Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me
a River.” Nor is the album overtly self-lacerating, like Liz
Phair’s
Exile in Guyville or Tool’s “Sober.” Nope. Basically,
Sea Change is more about nursing the wounds and coming to
the assumption that the love is gone and it ain’t never coming
back.
Those who were surprised at Beck’s abrupt turn with
Sea Change should have seen it coming. Even in his early
releases, some of Beck’s songs were heavily drenched in folk roots.
His underrated gem Mutations is his folksiest and probably his
finest hour. It’s probably without coincidence that both albums
were recorded by the same producer: Nigel Godrich. With
Sea Change, Beck’s music brings comparisons to Gordon
Lightfoot and sunny, but extremely depressing ballads of the ’70s.
Beck even made his breakup a family affair by bringing in his
father, David Campbell, to do string arrangements for some of the
tracks.
Lyrically,
Sea Change is mostly dead-on honest. With such soul-baring
come the occasional clichés, such as the heartfelt “Lonesome
Tears,” where Beck makes “this love” the subject of the song. His
earnest voice pulls it off, but if the lyrics were on a Linkin Park
album, critics would have torn it to shreds. Far more successful is
“Lost Cause,” where Beck’s vagueness is replaced by the concrete
observations of “your sorry eyes, they cut to the bone / they make
it hard to leave you alone.” Ditto for “Round the Bend,” a great
song that Gordon Lightfoot should have recorded.
Some fans have been reluctant to embrace
Sea Change for good reason. Beck has always been a master of
irony, and to have such an emotionally-wrenching album dropped in
listener’s laps right after
Midnite Vultures, it’s easy to be skeptical. Will this just
be one of Beck’s phases? Once he gets over the loss of this
breakup, will he do an about-face and go punk? Who knows. It’s hard
to imagine the pain in “End of the Day” and “Already Dead” to be
anything but legitimate. And even if it wasn’t, few confessional
artists could make a bummer-themed album as beautiful as this
one.