Beck - Modern Guilt (XL)

Jul 15 2008 By Paul Cole

FOR his 10th album Beck has made another sudden switch in direction, teaming up with cool flavour of the month Danger Mouse, the studio svengali who’s inescapable.

It’s an intriguing marriage that takes in wobbly rocker Orphans, dust-dry Profanity Prayers, the tripped out piano of Chemtrails and Volcano – a song so lush it should be in a sofa sale.

Among the best are drum and bass lullaby Replica, which recalls Radiohead’s Everything In Its Right Place, and the squally Walls (with Cat Power, no less, on backing vocals). Not Beck’s Odelay best but certainly a return to form.