You can’t really put a solid label on Beck Hansen’s musical style. After all, here is a guy who seems to constantly change directions year after year. With the release of his 10th album, Beck once again creates a record which plays out like a smorgasbord of musical elements. The ten-track album, produced by Beck and Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton, ranges in musical styles from pop, psych-rock, folk, classical and experimentation.
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Beck
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 Art
"Modern Guilt"
(Interscope)
Released July 8, 2008
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While Modern Guilt’s short length (34 minutes) is disappointing, there’s plenty of musical switch-ups to keep things interesting. With Cat Power contributing to several tracks and Danger Mouse laying down the beats and samples throughout the album, Modern Guilt includes a little bit of everything but falls short of perfect.
On the dreary opener “Orphans,” Beck seems to question how he looks in God’s eyes with lyrics like “If I wake up and see my maker coming/with all of his crimson and iron desire/we’ll drag the streets with all with the baggage of longing…” So at the start we can see this album takes a serious turn from more upbeat Beck albums like 1996’s Odelay. Cat Power contributes to this track, but her vocals are barely audible here.
On the surfer-esque track “Gamma Ray,” which sounds slightly similar to Outkast’s “Hey Ya” Beck tackles environmental issues ranging from melting polar caps to pollution. “Hit me like a gamma ray/Standing in a hurricane/And I’m pulling out thorns/ Smokestack lighting out my window/I want to know what I’ve lost today.” While the track’s snappy beats and boogie guitars sound great, the serious tone of the lyrics snap a little enjoyment out of it.
“Chemtrails” touches on paranoia. Beck questions if the smoke trails left behind airplanes are really something more sinister. The track’s hazy feel and Beck’s drawn-out vocals create a feeling of sublime dizziness and sucks you into its catchy chorus. “Chemtrails” continues this theme before suddenly switching to scratchy guitars before coming to an abrupt mid-rift end.
Title track “Modern Guilt” continues the gloomy lyrics with Beck wondering about past mistakes and an unknown feeling of guilt and fear. “Modern Guilt/Is all in our hands/Modern guilt/won’t get me to bed/Modern guilt/Say what you will/Smoking my cigarette/Modern Guilt/Don’t know what I’ve done/But I feel afraid.” Jazzy drums and simple rifts accompany the track, while Danger Mouse drops in some carefully placed samples.
On the trippy “Youthless,” Danger Mouse incorporates psychedelic electronica with Beck’s surreal lyrics. Cat Power jumps in again on the album’s shortest track, “Walls.” By this point we are fully entrenched into Modern Guilt’s dark and despairing disposition, and the rest of the album stays true to form with “Replica,” “Soul of a Man,” “Profanity Prayers” and “Volcano. “
Overall, the collaboration between Beck and Danger Mouse makes Modern Guilt sound like a tribute to 60’s psychedelic and 70’s progressive rock. But, with Beck approaching forty-years-old, his lyrics seem to reflect a questioning of identity, crisis and the world around him. This leaves the album feeling somewhat depressing but interesting at the same time. The albums first five tracks are its strongest, while the second half of the album seems to step down a notch or two. Maybe it’s the onslaught of hopelessness midway through the album that leaves me crying for something more positive and upbeat reminiscent of Odelay! While Beck does a great job mixing things up musically throughout Modern Guilt, his lyrics remain steadily unrelenting…full of paranoia, guilt, crisis, and hopelessness. This leaves us wanting something a little more positive and fun. While Modern Guilt’s musicianship makes its strides and keeps us interested, the album as a whole falls short of perfect.
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