The American singer-songwriter finds renewed inspiration on an intimate, acoustic new album.
On the cover, a breeze ripples the sheer curtains of a spare room with paneled walls, where Beck can be seen seated on a chair, in calm and simplicity. A breath of fresh air: that’s precisely the effect of this fifteenth album, following several earlier chapters not particularly memorable, which tried to frenetically pile up all the era’s styles, especially electro-pop and synth-pop. As the photo that adorns Ride Lonesome indicates, the fifty-something with the look of an eternal lost teen has cleared the deck, and it suits him well, just as he proved on Sea Change (2002) and Morning Phase (2014), with the same group of musicians.
Also drifting between serenity and melancholy, this new album could be the third installment of this acoustic epic, where delicate strings reminiscent of Melody Nelson coexist with purring dry guitars and discreet bursts of slide guitar in the Ry Cooder vein. Produced by Beck himself and mixed by the faithful Nigel Godrich, these twelve songs draw from ancestral styles like Americana and folk, while admitting their unconditional love for more sophisticated orchestrations.
A Return to the Roots
Those lucky enough to see Beck in Paris in 2023 in the ultra-chic salons of the Hôtel de Ville, or in 2022 in the modest setting of La Maroquinerie, could see how joyful this return to basics is for the Californian songwriter, like a rejuvenating tonic paired with a resurgence of creativity in its simplest form. Often, the pace is so quiet that there is no drums—let’s cite in particular the interstellar For Your Love, carried by the most sensitive strings in the galaxy.
While Beck’s acoustic guitar might look like a primitive foundation, it is elevated by the hands of this prodigious multi-instrumentalist. This is the case with the monumental In the Night, with its twilight cellos and lush violins, of Falling Through My Hands, radiant and innocent like a lullaby with a thousand benefits, or If You Don’t Know What Love Is, a radiant ballad. Slow Canyon and Ride Lonesome already seem to be among the American’s most legendary gems. He laments going it alone on the album’s title, yet he only has to turn around to see that he is leading armies of devoted fans in his wake.
Ride Lonesome (Capitol Records/Universal). Released on September 18.
