Beck is back, filling the dance floor with snap, crackle and pop

Colors
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Artist: Beck
Genre: Alternative
Label: Virgin EMI

Some albums do exactly what they say on the tin. If Beck's last album, Morning Phase, was a predominantly sombre affair, Colors is one stuffed with songs that run the full spectrum of the rainbow.

These are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed pop songs that insists upon you dancing – from the swaggering electropop of the title track to the freewheeling psych-rock of Dreams and the kitsch skitter of Up All Night.

There's zany humour on his lyric sheet, too, best heard on the tongue-in-cheek Billy Joel-meets-MGMT Dear Life and the finger-snapping No Distraction, while Fix Me neatly brings the tracklist to a swoon-inducing conclusion. The comparatively clunky Wow is the only real blunder amid this quirky collection that serves as a timely reminder of just how versatile an artist Beck really is, 13 albums in.

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Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy is a freelance journalist and broadcaster. She writes about music and the arts for The Irish Times