You've got to wonder what Beck's ex-girlfriend is feeling right now. Imagine this, your boyfriend of nine years, whom you've recently broken up with, has just released an sad album on which *every* song is about his post-breakup depression. On top of that, the album received five-stars from Rolling Stone (only the second this year) and is considered by many to be an instant classic. The ex-boyfriend is Beck and his album is called Sea Change.

The music is deceptively simple and beautiful. The wackiness of Beck's previous efforts is gone and the blatant weirdness is replaced by an backward sincerity. Musically and lyrically, this album is very real. The music creates a soft bed upon which Beck's voice floats over, lands on, and sinks into. The vocal performance is in stark contrast to the "heartfelt" pop-vocal performances of today. Beck is whispering his sorrows in our collective ear, rather than screaming at us. It is a very bold and personal effort.

Sea Change, while not yet being called a concept album, seems to follow the appropriate rules for a concept album. The first song, "Golden Age" sets up the mood and the situation. "Put your hands on the wheel / Let the golden age begin / Let the window down / Feel the moonlight in your skin / Let the desert wind cool your aching head / Let the weight of the world drift away instead" Beck is welcoming us into his melancholy world, telling you to hold on, allow his sadness (moonlight) to touch you, and escape into his pain. Likewise, the song's instrumentation begins simply with an acoustic guitar and ends with a kind of electronic white noise.

The last song, "Side Of The Road", wraps up the journey by returning the listener to the road; the trip is over. The instrumentation is back to traditional acoustic instruments, no electronic blips and beeps. In the end, Beck tells us, "On a borrowed dime / In a different light / You might see what / The other side looks like / ...Let it pass / On the side of the road/ What a friend could tell me now" In essence, I think Beck is saying that now that you've seem my misery, know that it doesn't have to be your own experience -- in fact, you'd probably be better off letting it simply pass.

It's hard to choose a favorite song since they all kind of run into each other and maintain a consistent mood. Truth be told, every song is great, every song is beautiful. Each listen seems to bring more understanding and more insight into Beck's sadness. Immediate standouts include the opener, "The Golden Age", as well as "Guess I'm Doing Fine", "Lost Cause", "Nothing I Haven't Seen", and "Sunday Sun".

It's a great album. There is emotion in every note, every word. Behind all the pain and sadness there is beauty and possibly even joy. It's easily the best album I've heard all year and ranks among my favorites of all time. It's part Harvest-era Neil Young, part Air, with a healthy dose of Nick Cave thrown in for good measure. But all those different components come together to create something unique, something truly honest. Sea Changes is a personal look into Beck's emotions and inner thoughts. It's something that shouldn't be missed.

We all know that breaking up is hard to do. Somewhere between listening to Bob Dylan's prolific Blood on the Tracks, Joy Division's beautiful "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and Jeff Buckley's heartbreaking "Last Goodbye", I think we get the point that breaking up is a real melancholic deal. So it's little surprise that Beck's new album, Sea Change, reportedly about the break up between him and his longtime girlfriend, is about as cheery as an empty house in the dead of winter. That's not to say that it's not a superb album; Sea Change is Beck's greatest album since his classic Odelay.

The album starts off with the forlorn lullaby "The Golden Age" in which he admits "These days\ I hardly get by\ I don't even try". Beck hasn't been this open since 1998's sarcastically damper Mutations, and the only song on that record to reach this kind of emotional grab was the solemn "Nobody's Fault but My Own". 96's Odelay and 99's Midnite Vultures were fantastic, but songs like "Milk and Honey", "The New Pollution" and "Hollywood Freaks" offered up little for emotional resonance. Sea Change offers up only emotion, and it's the grim type. "Paper Tiger" rides on a wavy bass line and has orchestras floating in and out of the background while Beck mumbles "There's no road back to you". The music gets a little more cheerful on "Lost Cause" but with its chanting chorus of "Baby, I'm a Lost Cause", it doesn't stray too far. But all the funky, happy rhythms that Beck has made in his career can outweigh the utter glacier chill of the heart wrenching "Lonesome Tears". Beck howls under a maze of orchestras at the chorus "How could this love/Ever changing/Never change the way I feel" in a voice that would make the reaper sob. The song is haunting and sits itself right next to your heart. The entire album hits a spot in the listener's gut where it won't come loose. In a world of mostly forgettable and redundant music, Sea Change is a gem, even if the edges cut.

We know the Beck of of Mellow Gold, Odelay and Midnite vultures. We know the weird beats and samples. Fun tunes like Loser, Devil's haircut, where it's at. There's also a more personal Beck

In 2002, Beck wasn't feeling happy.

He took the formula of Mutations, no beats, just instruments. This time around a much darker album, putting his feelings into the music. And it works, my god it works.

This becomes quite obvious when the first song "The golden age" starts. "guess Im doing fine", "Lonesome Tears", "Around the bend" all express Beck's feelings about losing the love of his life. The emotion is so real. The production is great, listen to it on your headphones and get sucked into it.

Just like "The Golden Age" says, if you need to think about life, get in your car at midnight, and play this album.

I'm 52. Don't think much of today's music. Beck is an exception. This album is right up there with Lennon/McCartney material. A contemporay masterpiece which is rare nowadays. Beautiful.

Grab a pint of icecream and the biggest spoon in the drawer, or sulk in the corner hugging your favorite teddy bear. Um, better yet, just pop in 'Sea Change,' Beck's downbeat meditation on disappointment and loss. Beck returns to the introspective days of 'Mutations,' but this time, he's not simply pensive, this guy is downright despondent. However, he never sounds whiny, and one never gets the impression that he's simply feigning some pretentious and trendy concept. What gives this album it's focus, depth, and undeniable power is Beck's ability to convey a true and inexorable sense of sincerity and self-therapy. He allows consistency to build a strong case. For example, Beck never strays from the quiet simmer that opens on 'The Golden Age' and drifts on to more obviously dreary songs like 'Lonesome Tears,' 'Lost Cause,' and 'Already Dead.' Melancholy orchestral moments fade in and out. Hushed and reverent guitars, wurlitzer, percussion, and synth follow Beck along through his desolate journey. At times, his tone and manner recalls the curiously attractive, self imposed loathsomeness of E and his band, 'Eels.' Beck sounds as though he is consenting to a life overrun with misery. In a time when we're all a little world weary, this is some self-therapy we could all afford to get in on. Initially, a listener may find this new set depressing, but assuredly, Beck's confident and effusive lyrics coupled with his genuine and affecting grace, style, and audacity lend themselves well to one of this year's best new albums. How timely and appropriate for an extraordinarily talented artist such as Beck to offer us 'Sea Change,' a quiet stunner and a new American classic.