That said, the album isn’t without its fumbles. From the structure of the album to the way the energy levels in each song are modulated, it feels like Beck has a loose control over the process: enough where he’s guiding it but not too much where he’s strangling his own creativity. With Pharrell keeping a watchful eye over the process, Hyperspace feels like a natural progression for Beck. While Colors occasionally settled for embracing lighthearted songs with questionable substance, Hyperspace reels in those whims, enabling Beck to play loose between styles without straying too far in any one direction. Hyperspace explores a pop tinge without going too deep into the genre, leaving an opening for listeners who like Beck but don’t necessarily love his pop dalliances. As one would expect of any artist with a lengthy career, elements of Beck’s past work come into play, his two most recent albums seemingly top of mind. If the lyrical theme of the album is learning to endure the hurt that comes after loss, the music is about Beck’s continuing evolution as a songwriter. ![]() Along the way, singer Sky Ferreira stops by to offer vocal assistance in “Die Waiting” and Coldplay’s Chris Martin does the same on “Stratosphere.” In addition to his role as co-producer, Pharrell pops in throughout the album on keys, drums and select vocals. It’s a theme that bleeds through the album, popping up in “Die Waiting” as Beck promises “I don’t care what I have to do / Know that I’m gonna wait on you” and in “Dark Places” as he considers how shadows introduced by love lost bring a whole new level of loneliness into life. Beck then dives into “Uneventful Days,” one of the album’s strongest tracks that features a pulsating rhythm beneath lyrics documenting the “never-ending days, never-ending nights” plaguing a narrator struggling to find meaning after loss. Hyperspace starts with the short “Hyperlife,” a 97-second-long piece that serves as a Colors palate cleanser while setting the tone for what’s to come. Two years later, Beck has just released his 14 th album Hyperspace on Capitol Records, a project he co-produced with Pharrell Williams, who has long been on the singer’s collaborative wish list since Midnight Vultures. We last left Beck in 2017, when the bubbly Colors whirled listeners 180 degrees away from the quiet calm that Morning Phase brought through songs like “Morning” and “Say Goodbye.” If Morning Phase was about embracing maturity and finding acceptance, Colors was an energetic leap back into a life lived fully and without hesitation, coming across quite literally in songs like “I’m So Free.” All listeners really know is that a Beck project will do something new or unexpected-and that’s what makes it so fun. It could lean into folk, like 2014’s Grammy Award-winning Morning Phase it might skew pop, like 2017’s Colors it could go back to the lo-fi Mellow Gold beginnings that brought us “Loser” in 1994. ![]() Featuring musician and rapper Terrell Hines, the song highlights Beck’s roots as both Hines and Beck drop a few rap vocals towards the end of the arrangement.Listeners never quite know what they’re going to get with a new Beck album. Sticking to that celestial feel, the album heads into “See Through,” a hip-hop inspired tune that features hard beats and a muffled synth background which miraculously compliments Beck's purposefully auto-tuned vocals.Ĭalling back the intro track, Beck replicates the opening of “Hyperlife” with that of the seventh and title track, “Hyperspace,” using a heavier synth lead and a louder drum backup. A bit more upbeat than its predecessors, the contemporary-sounding fourth track is a crafty blend of the album’s vintage impression and Beck’s more recent mainstream effort backed by singer Sky Ferreira.Īs a general reminder of the collection’s extra terrestrial quality, Beck dives into the fifth track “Chemical” with an overloaded synth background that would deem the song worthy of a Stranger Things soundtrack, minus the acoustic guitar. Following the more typical Beck staple is “Die Waiting,” which serves as a perfect transitionary song featuring another acoustic guitar riff and vocal reverb.
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