An Open Letter to Beck
Dear Beck,
Let me begin by saying thank you. Your music, through its diversity, has managed to be the soundtrack to some of the biggest moments of my life. Midnite Vultures for me, will always take me back to vacationing at Disney World with my family, and late nights spent out with my friends in high school making stupid decisions. I can't think back to my first break up without hearing the echoes of "The Golden Age" in the back of my head. The Information was my first driving album, and "Cellphone's Dead" has become the quite appropriate funeral dirge for many of my electronics. "Where It's At" was the first televised musical performance I can remember watching. The way you wove the abstract into very real emotion has left a huge impact on my life, and certainly on the way I view art and expression as a whole. In short, I'm a huge fan of your work.
Please come back.
I've been so impressed by the journey you've been on for the past few years. The record club is one of the coolest ideas I've ever heard of. The production work that you've done for Charlotte Gainsbourg, Thurston Moore, and Stephen Malkmus is impeccable. It's been refreshing to hear you bring out the best in whoever you're collaborating with at any given moment. Having said that, I'm even more interested to hear what you, as an artist, have cooking. It's been four years now since Modern Guilt, which is your longest gap between records, and there hasn't even been a murmur of a forthcoming album. Have we reached the end of the era of your output as a primary artist? If that's the case, I understand. Life is full of seasons, and if yours has entered a season where production is what you want to be your primary focus, I get that, and more power to you, still, I'm by any measure a young person, and as many milestones as I've shared in my life with your music, I'd certainly like to share more with new output. I realize this is kind of ridiculous, writing an open letter, which there is almost no likelihood you'll ever see, but, in the off chance you ever do, know that there's at the least one other person out there who really wants to hear more output from your perspective.
Best of Luck,
A fan.