Sad-era Beck, also one of my favorite songs of his, courtesy of
Beck - “Lost Cause”
It’s far too easy for me to sit around my house and get stuck in a rut of playing the same dozen whoever’s-hot-right-now artists over and over again. So as strange as it may seem, one of my favorite things about going out is not being in control of what music gets played. This past weekend, as some friends and I were waiting to be seated at a local bar, an album that’s all too neglected in my library was playing, and I’ve played it almost half-dozen times since.
Beck’s Sea Change isn’t the artist’s most well-known, eclectic, or happiest record, but I think it’s one of his best. Written and recorded after a bad breakup with a long-time girlfriend, the album has an unapologetically somber, sad-sack tone, and more simple, straightfroward lyrics than on Beck’s previous works. However, it’s rare for an album as out of the blue and unlike anything an artist did before or after to be as good, captivating, and cathartic as this. If you haven’t heard Sea Change, you’re missing out.
