Pitchfork

Jamie Lidell photo by Jason Bergman

More information regarding the Beck/Jamie Lidell direct-to-disc recording session has surfaced, and though the details of the material's release (previously reported as a series of singles) are still up in the air, we now have an idea of how it will sound when (and if) it does come out.

According to a representative of the Infrasonic studio where the sessions took place, "engineers Pete Lyman and Jeff Ehrenberg both agree that Beck's material had a Sea Change feel to it: acoustically driven, with undertones of traditional folk and Americana. The songs that Lidell worked on, however, were really on the other end of the spectrum, with a post-punk/new wave feel. The production of those songs had a darker tone, similar to Joy Division. As Pete and Jeff both said, Lidell's work was 'Suicide meets Silver Apples,' with a really great marriage of synth and vocals."

So Lidell was a little out there? We expected nothing less. However, it seems his contributions were weirder not only in content but also in approach: "He contributed vocals and instrumentation to the sessions, or, as Pete said, 'vocals and shouting,' drum machines, and a great variety of vintage keyboards. Lidell executed some really incredible vocal techniques. He would intentionally shout into the space in order to capture that larger sound and at times was walking and running throughout the room shouting into every single mic available."

Jamie, we miss you already.

Finally, Beck was not in the studio on the first day of recording (alt rock stars!), which gave Lidell a chance to record a soul track of his own. And as much as we love his bonkers side, it's very good to hear he can still tap into his straightforward side as well.