Beck’s new song ‘Dark Places’ is a dreamy, hazy, synth-infused eighties-styled experience that gives longtime fans a captivating glimpse of what is to be expected from the artist’s new album Hyperspace.

The album is to be released on November 22nd and features some groundbreaking collaborations with acclaimed artists such as extraordinaire producer Pharell Williams, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin and longstanding producers Greg Kurstin and Paul Epworth. Having made some of the most unique, stimulating and eccentric sound productions in the last thirty years, it is a testament to Beck’s body of work and creative identity that he can still churn out music as instrumentally diverse and emotionally resonant in today’s musical culture. 

‘Dark Places’ refers to the bizarre journeys taken by the mind in moments of peace, quiet and loneliness, whether that is ‘four in the morning’ or in the wake of a break-up. But the lyrics only complement the acute instrumentation of the track, one that is marked by dense acoustic-guitar injections and prolonged, loud synth runs that could accompany the listener back to the nostalgia and angst of the eighties and early nineties---a period of time that witnessed Beck’s rise through fame. The lyric video similarly complements the reflective style of the song, building the visuals through the dark, isolated figures hovering through the night, moving slowly, immersed in their thoughts. The words being matched by katakana, a Japanese form of writing, seems to be a running theme of the album, which looks to explore themes of space, hyperreality, science and how they intersect with the vast range of human experience. 

Originally borne out of a single session with Pharrell Williams, the album decided to feature the masterful producer quite heavily, with Williams featuring in seven out of the ten songs, a deliberate choice that Beck deemed fit in the wake of their winning musical chemistry. Speaking on Williams and his production technique for the album, Beck says:

“I really tried to be less ambitious on the production on these songs, like to let them be simple and let them breathe. Pharrell is a master minimalist. On production I’m a bit of a maximalist – I’m known to have 140 tracks of things trying to coexist and fight to be heard at the same time. I’ve really tried to reform myself to let it be more simple.”

 Singer-songwriter