Get To Know Beck's New Single Ahead Of Australian Tour

Tyler Jenke

As Beck readies his Australian return with a batch or orchestral shows, he arrives armed with his first piece of new original music in two years.

Beck's 'Ride Lonesome' cover art(Credit: Autumn De Wilde)

Beck

As the genre-defying, era-defining, and ever-evolving Beck readies his return to Australia, the cultural icon has shared new music by way of the standalone single, Ride Lonesome.

His first new piece of original music since 2024, Ride Lonesome is – as its title suggests – a somewhat solitary journey, with its creator evoking the heartfelt elements that were made ever so prominent on records such as Sea Change and Morning Phase.

Speaking to NPR about the track recently, Beck explained that its title isn’t a clever commentary, but rather emblematic of the period in which it was penned. “It was a bit of a lonely time,” he admitted.

“It was one of those times in your life when you're taking things in, where you've been and where you're going. You know, when you're going through difficult things, often you have to get through it yourself. You just have to move forward through whatever landscape of your life and circumstances you find yourself in.

“And I think it's sort of that dark comfort of pushing through the parts of life that are maybe not as comfortable or easy, and having some distant faith that it will pull you through to the other side,” he added.

Currently, it’s been almost seven years since the release of his last record, 2019's Hyperspace, though he's been far from lazy. Alongside a raft of standalone singles, Beck also issued the Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime compilation EP back in January, which collected a number of previously-released covers he had recorded, along with a pair of new ones.

During his conversation with NPR, Beck hinted there is new music around, though it’s unclear when we’ll be hearing it. "I had to wait a couple of years to get back to work [after COVID],” he told the broadcaster.

“But I've been writing a lot of songs. It's been a very prolific time for me. I did a song with Gorillaz and I did one with Paul McCartney, and we did a fun video together. I helped write a Black Keys album called Ohio Players. I think I wrote like 10 or 12 of those songs. And then I've just been working on my music pretty constantly.

“I built a recording studio. You know, I've been living life. I've probably made multiple albums' worth of music that probably no one will ever hear, but hopefully it leads to something. I've got lots of things cooking. I've been in the studio a lot on and off the last four years with my band.

“There's a group of musicians I came up with that were my touring band for a lot of my early records,” he added. “And everybody's gone off to bigger and better things, but we still get together and we'll find a couple of days here and there and make some music. And yeah, I have a lot of different projects I want to do, so hopefully there's time to get to all of them."

Beck will return to Australia this week, with a batch of unique orchestral shows launching at the Sydney Opera House on May 7th, before those three dates are following by a pair of gigs at Melbourne’s Palais Theatre.

He’ll be joined by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra for the New South Wales dates, and Philharmonia Australia for the remaining Victorian shows. Tickets to these gigs are on sale now via Frontier Touring and the Sydney Opera House.