![]() ![]() With Pharrell keeping a watchful eye over the process, Hyperspace feels like a natural progression for Beck. While Colors occasionally settled for embracing lighthearted songs with questionable substance, Hyperspace reels in those whims, enabling Beck to play loose between styles without straying too far in any one direction. Hyperspace explores a pop tinge without going too deep into the genre, leaving an opening for listeners who like Beck but don’t necessarily love his pop dalliances. ![]() As one would expect of any artist with a lengthy career, elements of Beck’s past work come into play, his two most recent albums seemingly top of mind. If the lyrical theme of the album is learning to endure the hurt that comes after loss, the music is about Beck’s continuing evolution as a songwriter. Along the way, singer Sky Ferreira stops by to offer vocal assistance in “Die Waiting” and Coldplay’s Chris Martin does the same on “Stratosphere.” In addition to his role as co-producer, Pharrell pops in throughout the album on keys, drums and select vocals. It’s a theme that bleeds through the album, popping up in “Die Waiting” as Beck promises “I don’t care what I have to do / Know that I’m gonna wait on you” and in “Dark Places” as he considers how shadows introduced by love lost bring a whole new level of loneliness into life. Beck then dives into “Uneventful Days,” one of the album’s strongest tracks that features a pulsating rhythm beneath lyrics documenting the “never-ending days, never-ending nights” plaguing a narrator struggling to find meaning after loss. Hyperspace starts with the short “Hyperlife,” a 97-second-long piece that serves as a Colors palate cleanser while setting the tone for what’s to come. Two years later, Beck has just released his 14 th album Hyperspace on Capitol Records, a project he co-produced with Pharrell Williams, who has long been on the singer’s collaborative wish list since Midnight Vultures. We last left Beck in 2017, when the bubbly Colors whirled listeners 180 degrees away from the quiet calm that Morning Phase brought through songs like “Morning” and “Say Goodbye.” If Morning Phase was about embracing maturity and finding acceptance, Colors was an energetic leap back into a life lived fully and without hesitation, coming across quite literally in songs like “I’m So Free.” All listeners really know is that a Beck project will do something new or unexpected-and that’s what makes it so fun. It could lean into folk, like 2014’s Grammy Award-winning Morning Phase it might skew pop, like 2017’s Colors it could go back to the lo-fi Mellow Gold beginnings that brought us “Loser” in 1994. If Beck had placed more robust songs on the first half of Hyperspace or made the album more consistent and cohesive front-to-back, then perhaps it would have been a classic, rather than just another great album from the artist.Listeners never quite know what they’re going to get with a new Beck album. My main criticism of the album is that the first half, though good, is not as strong as the second half, which is amazing. The retro, otherworldly, 80s/chillwave synthesizers create the impression of being in a dream which might turn out to be a nightmare or watching a dystopian science fiction movie. Fans will recognize this grim tone from some of the singer/songwriter’s previous albums, such as The Information and Modern Guilt. The lyrics are often quite bleak, examining the dark sides of interpersonal relationships, society, and existence. The sounds are ethereal and beautiful, yet melancholy. As always, Beck’s songwriting is magnificent the album contains some of his best songs since Morning Phase (see “See Through,” “Hyperspace,” and “Star”). He does cover some new ground, such as chillwave. On his new album, Beck takes the R&B, trap-influenced pop, and 80s pop genres, all of which he has dabbled in before, and turns them up to 10. On his new album, Beck takes the R&B, trap-influenced pop, and 80s pop genres, all of which he has dabbled I would give Hyperspace an 8.5/10. ![]()
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