There are surprisingly approachable settings here, songs that start with humble acoustic guitar and grow into vast and dazzling canyons of sound. The rhythms suggest a different experience of slowness, a patient (or maybe just grown-up) approach to the pulse. Likewise, the lyrics are beamed from different plateaus: Before, when Beck looked at how the concept of devotion changes in the charred aftermath of a romance, there were traces of bitterness in his words. Now, he seeks more metaphysical terrain — in a few cases, it’s as though the words were lifted from walking mantras, or transcribed from hypnotic or meditative states. The delivery enhances this impression: Even the most wrenchingly vulnerable declarations — as in “Morning,” wherein he observes, “We tore it all down, and buried me underneath the weight” — are rendered with yogic calm. These elements make the latest Beck creation something more than a wounded-heart reprise; it’s a glimpse of new frontiers in letting go and moving on, told by someone who wasn’t thinking quite this way before. [Source]
New Music United 