Beck
Dear Life
Fonograf/ Capitol
If you heard this song over the radio without first hearing who the artist was, you would be forgiven for thinking that you were listening to a new Ben Folds track. The opening piano bars sound just like something that he would put out. It is not a new Ben Folds song however, but the first song off Beck’s yet to be released album, Dear Life.
While the song itself starts off rather unimaginatively, it does have a good beat, it’s catchy and rather sweet. Unfortunately however, it just feels like a paint-by-numbers track and certainly does not blow one’s hair back.
Of course, this is Beck’s 13th studio album and one could imagine that it starts to get hard to produce new, edgy and hard-hitting songs after all this time. While it falls flat and is certainly not Where It’s At? or Loser, this is just the first track so here’s hoping that there are some punchier songs on the new album.
That being said, it’s very inoffensive and would work perfectly in the background at a dinner party or restaurant where you want something that isn’t loud and encourages conversation between guests so in that sense, it’s a very lovely song.
KAREN LOWE
