Beck
Modern Guilt
Interscope Records
Release Date: Jul 8, 2008

For fans awaiting the return to Midnight Vultures-era good-time electro-funk, this is not that album. Modern Guilt lyrically and tonally bears more resemblance to 2002's "Sea Change", as Beck gets back to dealing with personal issues; however, if "Sea Change" was a post-breakup exorcism, Modern Guilt is an artist searching for direction and meaning (the first words on the album are "think I'm stranded, but I don't know where"). Helping Beck to find the right path, super-producer Danger Mouse buoys the anxious lyrical content with a subtle blend of late 60's/early 70's rock & soul meets electronica, which gives each song the right amount of lift. Much like his work in his own Gnarls Barkley, Danger Mouse keeps things churning with beats that are deceptively organic, and ethereally funky.

Clocking in at a mere 33 minutes, Modern Guilt has much to offer in a short time. Beck's arrangements and instrumentation are clever as usual, but there is more attention paid to space. Each song sounds like it belongs on the album, but each is uniquely different. You know that each one is definitively Beck, but there are few tangents, as the three minute average song lengths prohibit them; indeed, a few songs abruptly end, as if Beck forgot about the time limits.

The lead track - "Orphans"-clearly nods to late 60's psychedelic pop (with some appropriately trippy backing vocals courtesy of Cat Power). "Chemtrails" sounds like Brian Wilson singing on a Love track. Slightly disturbing falsetto vocals soar over a creepy organ figure and drummer Joey Waronker's athletic fills (the lone track incorporating live drums). The title track is also a standout. The sinister T-Rex groove chugs along as Beck laments being co-opted by the system ("turning into convention, don't know what I've done, but I feel ashamed").

This time around we're not getting the pop-lockin', get fresh flow of early Beck, but his essence still comes through. Even when working through an existential funk, he's got the same flavor. Modern Guilt's mellow, stream-of-consciousness So-Cal grooves make for a great soundtrack for a late summer night.