Musical maverick Beck will be releasing a new album, titled Song Reader, this coming December. But if you want a listen to the album….well, that may be a different story. The album is set to be released as sheet music by publishing house McSweeney’s, who will be recruiting select musicians and Beck fans to bring these songs to life. Whether or not Beck will play his versions of these songs, or the alternative versions at any point, remains to be seen.
Song Reader is made up of a 108-page illustration book, which includes artwork by various artists. Out of the twenty songs penned, eighteen have lyrics and two are instrumentals. Titles of tracks include, “Do We? We Do” and “Don’t Act Like Your Heart Isn’t Hard”.
It has been five years since Modern Guilt, and while many fans had hoped for another album by Beck, this looks to be about as much as they are going to get, for now. Beck has also remixed a Philip Glass track on the upcoming album Rework: Philip Glass Remixed due out October 23rd, which will also feature remixes by Amon Tobin, Tyondai Braxton (formerly of Battles), Dan Deacon, Memory Tapes, Pantha du Prince and others.