MUSIC REVIEW: Beck Morning Phase
By Space Coast Daily // October 23, 2014
singer, musician, multi-instrumentalist
ABOVE VIDEO: An American singer, musician, and multi-instrumentalist, Beck Hansen is known for folky rock music, unusual lyrics, and post-modern arrangements, which has made him one of the most outstanding in 1990s alternative rock. He became extremely popular with his hit song “Loser” in 1994. Beck is known for including various styles of music into his songs, including folk music, electronica, indie music, techno, rock music, and alternative music, among others.
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Beck Hansen has always been a folk singer at heart. Everything else, Midnight Vultures, Loser, all of it was real too, but, those were distractions Beck was playing at.
Even at the center of Mellow Gold, the acoustic musings which were considered asides at the time, turned out to be greater core values.
Morning Phase is light as mountain air and twice as refreshing. Stark and spare as the California desert, which cultivated this variety of cowboy flavored folkiness, he calls up landmarks to create his own masterpieces.
“Heart is a Drum” cribs references to Hank Williams Lost Highway, and feels like he found an overlooked gem of a tune by post Mama’s and Papa’s era John Phillips.
“Blackbird Chain” has orchestral touches elevating it suddenly to something grander, larger than it would ever considered possible on its own. And “Country Down” feels So Crosby, Stills & Nash, you’d almost wonder if Joni Mitchell doesn’t share songwriting in there somewhere.
This is a quiet release for waking up or coming down and reflecting on where the last twenty years might have gone.
But for all the alarmists uncertain with what to do or say about the suddenly serious young man from Sea Change, wondering what happened to their favorite class clown and his musings on the logic of sex laws, he’s not here.
The person who did show up sort of resembles him. And he’s trying on middle age for size; you know, being a grown up; and you know, it suits him.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
M. Alberto Rivera has attended over 1,000 shows. He is in the possession of an absurd musical collection dating back 1923.
He has performed close to 1,000 shows or so, in a variety of styles from punk and pop, to jam bands and contemporary christian, as well as some others not easily defined.
So if you think he’s naive or uninformed when it comes to his musical opinions, you’re probably right. And he wants you to go ahead and tell him he has no idea what he’s talking about.
To reach Rivera email him at imdaeditor@gmail.com
