It’s a sound that speaks to those in psychic pain, although the message is not necessarily comforting

While many of the orchestral flourishes on Ride Lonesome do not feel as impactful as those on past albums, they still serve as a reminder that Beck can lend even his more nondescript moments a sense of refinement

This is not just Beck Hansen’s best album in years. It might also be his darkest. Is this the real Beck, the man behind the slacker mask?

A truly great album

Ride Lonesome is the opposite of Mutations, which communicated a thing or two about being downcast but was never plodding. Here, Beck neglects one of his main strengths, which is to be musically daring

The blues sound a little gray on Beck’s new album, a spiritual sequel to Morning Phase blending country-folk songwriting and gently psychedelic West Coast rock

Ride Lonesome puts Beck firmly into the saddle – let’s hope he’s defying expectations next time

Beck’s orchestral return makes heartache inviting without smoothing it away, though the songs sometimes settle for a beauty the arrangements work harder to achieve

The LA shapeshifter ditches the pop proclivities of his last album for a reunion with the musicians behind Sea Change and Morning Phase

Beck’s return to folk-rock is frequently beautiful, even as it produces diminishing returns

A stripped-down return to his folk-inspired roots that sounds familiar

He returns to the gorgeously forlorn folk of records like Sea Change on his first new LP in seven years

Ride Lonesome doesn't just serve as a fitting end of a trilogy: it's moving and inventive enough to make fans pine for the next instalment in what is is hopefully a long series

There is still wonder in his music, only now it comes from refinement rather than reinvention

Final part to the deeply heartfelt trilogy of albums in response to his divorce is wondrous and uniquely uplifting

The chameleonic alt-pop star returns to the fold with the musicians behind ‘Sea Change’ and ‘Morning Phase’, resulting in similarly masterful melancholia

Spellbinding stuff

This branch of Beck’s discography is more like a genre unto itself, a particular type of melancholy that grows deeper as its starting points become more nostalgic with time

He seems to double down on the great works of Petty and Dylan, connecting Ride Lonesome to a greater lexicon of melancholic and thoughtful songs that walk the line between folk and roots-based rock

Hurt and hope prevail on an intimate outing

Catharsis comes in a closing duo, If You Don’t Know What Love Is and Beyond The Light, that makes Ride Lonesome the perfect companion for those dark nights of the soul

The restless artist returns to the comfortable sadness of Sea Change and Morning Phase

On his first album in seven years, Beck keeps the quality control extremely high as he surveys mid-50s malaise in the wake of divorce

A masterpiece of melancholia