ALBUM REVIEW: Beck – Ride Lonesome

Released: 18.09.26

Somehow finding yet another voice – deeper, darker, sadder – Beck David Hansen, the eternal shapeshifter, shows that there’s still new shapes he can squeeze into on his 15th album.

Seemingly more heartbroken, and desperate, than in pervious incarnations, Ride Lonesome sees Hansen cast out in a deeply evocative, almost prog-rock state of lush production and instrumentation. Moving away from his Gram Parsons-esque solo guitar and piano style of heartbreak, Ride Lonesome shines through its use of layered vocals, orchestration and sonics, landing somewhere smack in the middle of 1997 and sandwiched between the classics of Ladies and Gentlemen (see For Your Love) and OK Computer (the stunning Falling Through my Hands).

Making sonic sense thanks to the appearance of Nigel Godrich, Ride Lonesome takes classic Beck songwriting moments and moves them into a whole new world; with the likes of Slow Canyon feeling like a deep relation to Deadweight. The album’s taken six years, but that’s the time it must take to regenerate fully. Stunning.