Six years after Modern Guilt comes, finally, Beck's 12th studio album. Morning Phase is, forgive me, a wake-up call, and although on first listen it seems bright and uplifting, smile-on-your-dial stuff, there is something darker at play.
Like its predecessor, there's a dreamy quality, a baking-in-the-sun atmosphere maybe that harksback to the days of psychedelia, songs floating in and out of bliss with warm harmonies in the land of the Beach Boys.
After a short instrumental intro, Morning opens the album at a suitably sedate pace with a soft acoustic strum, Beck's vocals stretching like someone waking up.
First single Blue Moon has a relatively upbeat tune but its lyrics betray a troubled mind: "I'm so tired of being alone ... inside my silent asylum."
But despite its darker moments, Morning Phase is a pleasurable listen that bizarrely lulls you and energises you at the same time. Try it, you'll see.Kim Gillespie
