Some American

Song of the Day | Beck - Lost Cause

Out of the many, many albums released in recent memory, Beck’s Sea Change might be one of the most aptly named. It is also one of the most important. Yes, being an album inspired by a break up is hardly remarkable, but the poignance of Sea Change carried so much weight because it came out the same guy who wrote “Devil’s Haircut”, something that could have easily rendered it irrelevant. By trading in willful idiosyncrasy and bizarre iconography for stripped back composition and misery inducing somber tone on his eighth studio release, Beck achieved something few would have ventured he was capable of: subtlety. 

As the lead single, “Lost Cause” definitely isn’t the most adventurous choice from this collection, but as with most Song of the Day posts, it was chosen in order to draw potential readers/listeners toward the album as a whole. “Lost Cause” summarizes the intent and perspective of Sea Change perfectly, and why bother supplanting the artist himself in deciding which song best accomplishes that task?

Sea Change was re-released in re-mastered form by the Mobile Fidelity Soundlab in June of 2009. It was named one of Rolling Stone’s “Top 500 Albums of All Time” in 2003.