Photo by Peter Hapak
Beck is (almost) back!
The last time Beck was in the news, Prince was handing him an award for Album of the Year and Kanye West was showing the world what a douchebag he was. Oh, 2015.
At the time of his win, the genre-bending artist was already two years into work on his next album, Colors, an album that’s being described as a “blast of experimental pop.” The record is produced by Greg Kurstin who’s known for his work with Adele, Kelly Clarkson and Sia, as well as his own project, The Bird and the Bee. But why the long wait?
“I suppose the record could have come out a year or two ago,” Beck told Rolling Stone. “But these are complex songs all trying to do two or three things at once. It’s not retro and not modern. To get everything to sit together so it doesn’t sound like a huge mess was quite an undertaking.”
Kurstin isn’t new to Beck’s world, either—he served as the touring keyboardist for Beck’s Sea Change tour in 2002. Colors was recorded in Kurstin’s LA studio, where between the two artists, they played nearly every single instrument themselves. The album is reportedly upbeat and is set for release this October.
“The best songs make you glad to be alive,” he continued. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Beethoven or the Monkees. That’s what I was thinking about a lot.”
During months of downtime, Beck toured as much as he could, including plenty of slots in the festival circuit. In September, he’s due to open for U2 in a run of stadium shows. Regardless of the fact that this is one of the longest time gaps in his discography, Beck isn’t shaken.
“I’ve always been doing my thing,” he said. “I feel like more and more I have a sort of open passport where I just go in and go out, away from the eye of the hurricane. It’s interesting.”
Beck – Wow
New single “Wow” available now: http://smarturl.it/BeckWow Listen on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/BeckWowSpotify Director: Grady Hall, Beck Creative Director / Editor: Brook Linder Producer: Allan Wachs Executive Producer: Haley Moffett Talent + Artist Contributions Sam Cannon – https://www.instagram.com/samcannon Randy Cano – https://www.instagram.com/randy.cano/ Andy Gregg / Super Studio – https://www.instagram.com/studio_super/ David McLeod – https://www.instagram.com/david_mcleod/
