Sea Change - review

I don't like self-pity. It's ugliness. But if you can allow 'sea change' to accompany you, formulate ways out of your sadness, and let it reflect your mood then it will serve it's purpose. Self-pity is destructive, so put this music on at that timeless moment when your pain doesn't have any future plans or past regrets, but just is.

Tender love songs, life and coming of age are all explored in beautiful modern folk-style on this stunning album. It's weight is enough to bring you down if you're not strong, and if you really get into it, it will have a devastating effect on you. The reason I spoke so much about self-pity is because the songs are all nearly all down-tempo, and all fairly sad, and as a result of such, many people have categorised this as a sort of companion for self-pity (or as I once read, 'the best album to listen to after your girlfriends dumped you').

The music is apocalyptic, weighty, strong and overwhelming. Overpowering. Becks voice on songs like 'Paper Tiger' is left high in the mix, so we can feel his blues as intensely as possible. All of the brilliant songs are essentially based around one talented man and his guitar, but it's the orchestral climaxes and effects that make this seem like a truly modern album. Because of the emotion that Beck was clearly feeling when he recorded these brilliant tracks, we still get that basic vibe to the songs, the Bob Dylan style blues, the images of these songs being written on the back of a bus and played somewhere alone in the middle of the American dessert. As a result of this sincerity, the artificial drum machines, (some might say excessive) effects and often highly dramatic orchestras rarely seem to overpower the man himself.

Check 'Lonesome Tears' for the most climactic of orchestral explosions you may ever have heard, as well as the beautiful 'Lost Cause' (which I'm currently perfecting on the guitar myself) for an example of a track that didn't quite need those slick, cool effects, but still stands up because of his amazing song-writing skills and soulful voice:

"I'm tired of fighting, I'm tired of fighting...."

Songs like 'It's all in your mind' and 'Guess I'm doing fine' and 'Sunday Sun' do really add to the heavy feeling of this album, towards the end you might be feeling that just one or two tracks may have been cut, but at the same time, it's hard to find anything on this gem that dissappoints. Nothing does in fact, it's all gold, high quality potent gold, but as far as I'm concerned it's also a dangerous album. If you have nothing wrong in your life, you may find your mind looking to create something when it's accompanied by music like this.

For every downer, there's always the uplifting melodies of 'Already Dead' and 'Lost Cause' to give you some kind of relief (I know they don't sound very positive, but listen and you might know what I'm getting at). This album is potency, art of the highest calibre and well worth a place in your collection. Just don't listen to it everyday in beautiful months of May and June like I did, because effective art will affect you, and this definitely affected me. Twelve thumbs up.