Album Review: Beck - Colors

Following his Grammy win for 2014's Morning Phase, Beck is back and wastes no time getting down to business with the opening title track a punchy one-two, all swanky chorus and excitement.

It's the most polished approach he's taken to date, as was hinted at when Dreams was released as a single earlier in the year, showcasing that a shift outside the realm of an indie stalwart was in the works.

Co-produced with Greg Kurstin (of P!nk, Brian Mercer and Foster The People fame) Colors is more focused on pop, super-produced and unabashedly shakes the indie shackles of albums past. Sometimes it works, such as the aforementioned single and on Seventh Heaven, but too often it feels either like a hasty follow-up album or as if two people's inputs are unintentionally at odds with one anotherrather than being complementary. Dear Life and I'm So Free emphasise these points and by the time No Distraction rolls around, one realises the quirkiness and interesting compilations of the past have vanished, and what we are left with is expendable and uninteresting.

Beck has arguably done every type of genre under the sun (barring death metal) and received much universal acclaim along the way, Colors unfortunately falls short of expectation.