I really enjoyed the album. Everyone keeps yelling that it's a sequel or a redux of Sea Change, and while it's in a similar vein, it's absolutely it's own entity and definitely modern and new.

I feel like people seem to be upset that Beck didn't do some wild, brand new sound, but it's definitely an emotional, personal piece that seems to me more a reflection on the man, looking between himself in 2002 and in 2014, feeling similarly at two very different points in his life, and seeing a way to portray that part of himself as someone that may even see Sea Change as his own masterpiece. This comes close for me even. It doesn't feel derivative, it feels like Vilgot Sjöman's I Am Curious Blue and Yellow; that is, they come from the same place in a psyche, they come from the same constituents, but they each are separate pieces.

Morning Phase is musically grown a lot. It's very soft with brilliant harmonization throughout. I'm very much a fan of drone and post-rock, and I feel parts of that vibe within this album. I can't say I've given enough attention to the lyrics yet to be able to compare with Sea Change, but I'd wager they're on par at the least. I can't say it's better, but that may change over time. There's a lot of personal emotion for everyone wrapped up in that album from the course of 12 years, so this may do the same with time.

Also, as a note about the article, I think the author sells Beck short. He keeps referring to that real Beck and that you have to choose one or the other as if you can't possibly really enjoy both sides of his music, and it's pretty clear that if he believes that, he doesn't really care for the more low-key albums, especially given this line:

Is Odelay now underrated? At the time it was treated like a masterpiece, but I feel like it’s become fashionable to describe it as dated or shticky. Still, it’s my favorite, if only because it was everywhere the year I graduated high school and started college. When Beck dies, I assume his legacy will be boiled down to “Loser” and this record. It’s easily the music that matters the most to the most people.

along with throwing little backhanded compliments at Sea Change throughout, despite saying he's a Sea Change guy, because even in saying that, he throws in he's that because

It’s just that, in my estimation, “glum” suits Beck’s limited emotional skill set better than “hump-hungry extraterrestrial horniness.”

So it's not really a shining appraisal of Beck. There's really not any real love for Beck anywhere in this article. I wouldn't call anything Beck's done 'glum', nor would I use 'numbness' as a derogatory term, as if that isn't a legitimate emotion, and I wouldn't treat 'alienation' as something that only arises in downbeat songs of his, or something that's a trait of 'mysterious' songwriters, which he seems to strangely acknowledge then tear about in a single bizarre sentence

In fact, many of Beck’s best songs (“Asshole,” “Rowboat,” “Pay No Mind,” and “Jack-Ass” in whatever order are my personal favorites) have balanced a pained heart with sardonically arched eyebrows, a skilled application of numbness in the service of suggesting heartbreak as subdued by a snarky shrug. [6] (Again, I’m not suggesting there’s actual emotion there, just the suggestion of emotion.)|

The whole thing stinks of his opinion that Beck is a fake, and any emotion he puts forward is fake, and any attempt to put himself forward is fake, and therefore terrible, despite what the album may actually be. I could see him just as easily have written this 12 years ago when Sea Change was released, and he seems equally incapable of separating 'good music' from 'deep lyrics', as if lyrics are a vital piece of any music being 'good'. Don't get me wrong, very good lyrics can make or break an album, but Morning Phase is very clearly about the instrumentation doing the speaking for him, ignoring that is ignoring the piece as a whole.

I will have to check out the new Sun Kil Moon album, however. I'm glad he suggested that.