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Artist News
Beck working on new album
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 5 August 2010
Beck has revealed that he is working on a new album, his eleventh, the follow-up to 2008’s ‘Modern Guilt’, which fulfilled his recording commitments to Interscope. He told Pitchfork that he’d started work on the record immediately after ‘Modern Guilt’ was completed: “I’ve worked on it a little bit here or there but it’s the kind of thing where I turn around and two years have gone by and it starts to get less relevant to what’s happening at large … But I’m sure the music is going to come out”.
With his record contract lapsed, he added that he’s hoping to find a more imaginative way to release the record than the traditional route: “I’m not sure if I’m going to put out twelve-inches or put the songs on my website. I just have to get them done. I’m going to try and finish them this summer. It’s just a matter of the songs being good enough and not embarrassing”.
Recently, Beck has become somewhat of a familiar face on other people’s records, having co-written and produced Charlotte Gainsbourg’s latest solo album, released last year, and worked with the likes of Thurston Moore and Stephen Malkmus, amongst many others in recent years.
On this subject, Beck said: “Maybe it’s more interesting for me to work with other people right now, just to change things up a little bit. Since Charlotte called me a few years ago I’ve been calling other people and asking if they needed help with their records. I enjoy the collaboration. I always envied people in bands who got to have that interaction. I’ve done so many albums where I’ve been in the studio for fourteen hours a day for six months just trying to come up with things on my own. It’s a nice change helping other people with their music and not being all about what I’m trying to do myself. Also, I haven’t had a record deal in over two years, so maybe that’s why you’re seeing more of these collaborations”.
It seems that the new Beck album may get sidelined again by an ongoing collaboration, the new solo album from the aforementioned Stephen Malkmus. Beck explained: “Within the first two days we had 90% of the album recorded. We just put it down live. I just talked to Steve, actually. We’re going to finish it up when he’s done touring”.
So, expect to see new Beck solo material later this year. Or not.
