Beck - Sea Change (FTL - Part 3)

BECK - SEA CHANGE (2002)
(****/5 stars)

Sea Change was reportedly written in a heat following the end of a long relationship, and it sounds like it; the disc takes a heartbroken stretch of days and compresses them down to album size, in a way that might have sounded oppressive in its self-pity if Beck were any less assured.

Working again with Nigel Godrich, producer of the similarly delicate but otherwise divergent Mutations, Beck swaddles the hurt in a lush assortment of elements that would sound like Babel under anyone else's direction. Steel guitars meet Morricone strings, and beneath it all, Beck sings the blues.

+ Lost Cause (Live)
+ The Golden Age (Live)
+ Pink Moon (Nick Drake cover)