Nothing to be guilty about

Themes of war and questions about life abound among trippy beats and inventive sounds on Beck’s newest release.

Modern Guilt, Beck’s eighth full-length studio album, is a seamless collection of 10 tracks mixing both mellow, low-key grooves and more upbeat, danceable tunes.
The first three tracks channel Beck’s inner ’60s child, creating a psychedelic vibe especially with “Orphans.” The up-tempo and simple guitar plucks combined with the drums on “Gamma Ray” are a throwback to the beach rock of the era, and sound like something the Beach Boys may have written while on LSD and crack.

As with any other Beck release, the diversity between each track is staggering. However, it’s all mixed well enough that one can hardly notice the transition between tracks. There isn’t a particular high or low point, either. Tracks like “Walls,” “Replica” and “Soul of a Man” carry the album through before setting it down at the very end with the deathly mellow “Volcano.”

It wasn’t until late this spring that word leaked about who the “mystery person” was working with Beck to produce Modern Guilt. When the world found out it was Danger Mouse (who is probably best known as one half of Gnarls Barkley) there was nothing but hope abounding.

Danger Mouse makes his presence known especially on “Walls,” the only track co-written with Beck. Muted horns, haunting female vocals in the background and a waltz-y beat carries the song through.

Even the most upbeat of songs on the album can’t escape the ominous theme present in the rest.

“Youthless,” probably the most danceable of all, still has a grim message and hopeless visual imagery. “There’s a bottomless pit that we’re climbing from/ Just to get on level ground,” the opening lyrics state.

“Chemtrails” is another somewhat bleak track, and channels an even more depressing version of “Eleanor Rigby,” while Beck hauntingly sings in a far off voice, “So many people/So many people/ Where do they go?”

Despite the less-than-enthusiastic message of much of the album, the musical quality and diversity of the tracks is enough to make Modern Guilt a very interesting and enjoyable piece of music, and another great addition to Beck’s already impressive discography.