Morning Phase is the twelfth studio album by American singerBeck.[7] The album was released in February 2014 by his new label,Capitol Records. According to a press release,Morning Phase is a "companion piece" to Beck's 2002 albumSea Change. Almost every credited musician who recorded parts forSea Change returned to record forMorning Phase, with the sole exception beingSea Change producerNigel Godrich.
Beck's previous album,Modern Guilt, was released in 2008, and was the final album released under hisInterscope Records contract.[9] In the interim between album releases, Beck worked on awide variety of projects, including new studio material, most of which went unreleased for several years.[9] In October 2012, bassist and frequent collaboratorJustin Meldal-Johnsen commented: "I would estimate that there are currently about three or four albums' worth of material floating around," and Beck himself said that "I wasn't sure if I was going to put out a record – or if Ishould put out a record. It felt like I was standing still, while everything else was in such flux."[9]
In 2012 and 2013, Beck began to perform live with more regularity than in the years immediately following theModern Guilt tour.[10] This period also saw new original material. The "I Just Started Hating Some People Today/Blue Randy" single was released in 2012, and he self-released the "Defriended", "I Won't Be Long", and "Gimme" singles in 2013.[11] All three of these songs were standalone releases as 12-inch singles on his own FONOGRAF label.[9] "I Won't Be Long" and "Gimme" were allegedly from an unfinished project from 2009, described as being similar toOdelay.[9] According to Beck, the remaining songs from this project may see a similar release method.[9]
In June 2013, Beck announced the expected release of two new albums for 2014, with one of the two being an "acoustic" album. The press release for the "acoustic" album (along with the news of his contract withCapitol Records) arrived in October 2013, announcing the title asMorning Phase and giving a February 2014 release window.[12] The other still-unfinished album would be planned for a later release. In comparing the production ofMorning Phase with his previous album, Beck stated that prior to recordingModern Guilt in 2008, he had suffered a serious spinal injury,[13][14] and that the recording process forModern Guilt was like "doing it with both hands tied behind your back. It hurt to sing. I'm whispering through half of those vocals."[9] On the other hand, Beck said thatMorning Phase was a much more satisfying experience: "Some of the songs on the new record – I get to shout and yell. I'm like, 'Thank you!' I had a lot of ideas and things I'd been wanting to do. This last year and a half, I feel like I can really do them."[9]
In 2005, Beck began recording material in Nashville for a new album, but it remained incomplete for several years.[9] It was not until 2012 that he returned to continue the project, this time recording atThird Man Records (which, incidentally had not existed at the time of his previous sessions).[9] Two songs from these new sessions, "I Just Started Hating Some People Today" and "Blue Randy", were released that year as a non-album single on Third Man's Blue Series.[9] Other songs, like "Blackbird Chain", "Country Down", and "Waking Light", were reserved for what would becomeMorning Phase.[9] In the beginning of 2013, he recorded a great deal of the album in his hometown of Los Angeles in three days, with familiar studio and touring musicians Justin Meldal-Johnsen,Joey Waronker,Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., andSmokey Hormel. The next six months, Beck worked with this material for an album release.[9] His fatherDavid Campbell contributed orchestral arrangements for the album, as he had done previously forSea Change and most of Beck's other albums.[9]
On January 20, 2014, the album's first single, "Blue Moon", was released.[4] Beck released the second single from the album, "Waking Light", on February 4, 2014.[5][15] "Say Goodbye" was released as the third single in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2014.[16] "Heart Is a Drum" was released to United Statesadult album alternative radio on July 28, 2014, as the fourth single.[17]
Prior to its release,Morning Phase was placed at number two onStereogum's list of most anticipated albums of 2014.[27]
Upon its release, the album received acclaim from music critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81 (based on 46 reviews), indicating "universal acclaim".[19]
AtMojo, James McNair stated that "Morning Phase isn't an album that obsequiously courts your approval [...] it just does."[28] Andy Gill ofThe Independent wrote that the album is "a deeply satisfying journey, the sadness tempered by the warmth and beauty of the settings, and the gentle determination of the resolution. Accordingly, it's a much better album thanSea Change, just as immersive, but wiser and less indulgently wallowing."[24] According to Reef Younis ofClash magazine,Morning Phase has a "slight, melancholic tone", and "there's an awful lot to love."[29]CraveOnline's Iann Robinson rated the album 9/10, calling it a "proud successor toSea Change" and "downtempo stroke of genius", and noted that it was some of Beck's best work in years.[30]
Morning Phase debuted at number three on theBillboard 200 albums chart, selling more than 87,000 in its first week, and becoming Beck's second highest charting album in the United States, afterGuero (2005).[31] The album also reached top 10 positions in the UK, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
^Goodman; Kristobak, Jessica; Ryan (December 15, 2014)."The 23 Best Albums of 2014".The Huffington Post.Archived from the original on January 7, 2016. RetrievedDecember 15, 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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