Beck isn’t an artist who is scared to try his hand at different musical genres when the muses grab his attention. Previously, there’s been not just the hip-hop dusted bluesman of “Loser” and the funky soul man of “Sexx Laws” but also the heartbroken country crooner of “Lost Cause” – just to name a few of his many guises. Indeed, it is to the country rock sounds of “Lost Cause” and its parent album, Sea Change that he appears to find himself returning with his latest long player, Rise Lonesome.
Maybe he’s been having some relationship issues of late, but it would seem that he’s also been listening to more than his fill of the likes of The Notorious Byrd Brothers, the Stones’ Sticky Fingers and even early Pink Floyd to get the creative juices flowing. For Ride Lonesome is atmospheric, mellow and woozy throughout with acoustic guitar to the fore and tender, yearning lyrics of solitude and loneliness from beginning to end.
The Byrds’ influence is emphatic throughout, with “Disappearing Act” particularly sounding almost like a re-write of “Draft Morning”. However, the mellow end other music from the classic rock canon are also apparent – with Mick and Keith’s “Wild Horses” providing something of a template for “If You Don’t Know What Love Is” and Pink Floyd’s ethereal acoustic vibes imprinting themselves on “In the Night” and “Slow Canyon”. Still, if you’re going to take your influences from somewhere, it’s always good to take a lead from some of the great masters. However, while Rise Lonesome isn’t characterised by excessive variety and takes plenty of obvious cues from the past, it isn’t sunk by its influences and will no doubt have many plugging in far into the future during those quiet times in the dark night which demand a bit of melancholic self-reflection, possibly accompanied with a glass of something strong.
