Beck - Ride Lonesome (2026)
Ride Lonesome sounds beautiful almost immediately, and that was probably what made me too generous with it at first. Beck knows this territory extremely well. Acoustic guitars, soft bass, strings, restrained drums, psychedelic details, Nigel Godrich's immaculate mix. Nothing sounds wrong. But after a few listens I start wondering how much of the music remains once I separate the songs from the production.
The title track establishes the problem quite clearly. It has the right atmosphere, Beck sounds appropriately weary, and the arrangement is elegant, but the melody and lyrics feel more generic than the mood around them. “Run Away” is much better. The fingerpicked guitar gives it an identifiable shape, and there is a simplicity to the song that feels natural rather than calculated. Pitchfork also points to that guitar figure as one of the small details that still make Beck interesting here.
“In the Night” and “Failed Words” are where I start losing concentration. They are pleasant while they are playing, but I do not retain much afterwards. “Failed Words” in particular has all the right melancholic colours without giving me much emotional friction. I hear the arrangement more clearly than the song.
“Bleed” is stronger. It expands the scale a little and gives the album one of its few genuine emotional peaks. The Financial Times hears something almost cosmic in it, and I understand the reaction. But even here I do not think Beck reaches the vulnerability of Sea Change. The emotion feels observed rather than exposed.
“Disappearing Act” and “For Your Love” bring back the problem of familiarity. Both are carefully constructed, but I can almost hear the template underneath them. Acoustic foundation, tasteful orchestration, controlled melancholy, restrained vocal. There is nothing offensive about any of it, but there is also not much tension.
“Slow Canyon” is better because the guitar work gives the song more identity. “It Ends Right Here” passes quickly, and then “Falling Through My Hands” finally gives me something less predictable. The psychedelic edge, repeating guitar figure and pedal steel make the track feel slightly unstable, and that small amount of instability is exactly what much of the record is missing.
“If You Don't Know What Love Is” stretches to 5:45, but I am not convinced it earns all of that time. “Beyond the Light” is similarly ambitious at 5:33, and while the arrangement clearly wants to provide a grand conclusion, the song itself does not completely support the scale.
That is really the album in miniature. Beck still has exceptional taste. He knows how to choose musicians, textures and arrangements, and there are details everywhere that I enjoy. But taste is not the same thing as inspiration. Too often I am listening to a very well-made Beck record rather than being pulled into one.
The comparison with Morning Phase is especially damaging because that album already explored this exact emotional landscape with stronger melodies and a clearer internal reason for existing. Pitchfork's description of Ride Lonesome as familiar rather than genuinely reconsidered territory feels much closer to my own reaction than the more enthusiastic assessments.
Beautifully produced and consistently tasteful, but too safe, too familiar and emotionally too distant. “Falling Through My Hands” and “Bleed” show what the album could have been with more tension and personality. I admire considerably more of it than I actually want to replay.
Genre: Folk Rock
Country: US
Final Verdict: 64% (Good Album)
Yearly Ranking: 329th / 705
Highlight: Bleed
Made me think of:
Elliott Smith
Sparklehorse
Wilco
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