It has now been three years since Beck has released a new album, not quite the five-plus between Modern Guilt and Morning Phase but certainly a stretch on the normal Beck timeline.
In a new interview with the New York Times’ T Magazine, he reveals what to expect for his upcoming thirteenth studio album which he says will be out in the spring.
Beck labels the new set as “happy songs” in direct opposition to the Grammy-winning Album of the Year Morning Phase and he says those are the hardest to write.
It’s much easier to go out and get really down. There’s a multitude of things that will oblige you in misery in the culture and there’s only so many that will produce true happiness. It’s like comedy. Comedy is harder in that only certain things are going to make you laugh. I think it’s closer to the child-nature in us, which the culture, for a lot of reasons, will discourage or crush. Or you mature out of it in other ways. I see it with kids. There’s that age where if you let that personal joyous side of yourself out, it’s almost more vulnerable than being emotionally vulnerable, like if you’re going through something difficult. It’s not the most clever, sophisticated part of you, but it is the most joyous.
The Times writer goes on to say that the tracks that he had heard were “huge, dance floor-ready” exuberant. We’re thinking it’s more Sexx Laws than Loser.
…simple and uplifting and galvanizing, where the spirit moves you, that kind of feeling. Those are the hardest. This new record I focused on that feeling. It’s the easiest to fail at. Or to come off on one hand disingenuous, or on the other hand just trite, or, you know, there’s that fine line between platitude and just the truth. And that fine line between making a big commotion and a bunch of movement and just actual unadulterated joy.
Look for the yet unnamed album (hopefully) in the spring.
