Q: And yet there’s this idea that the way you combine different styles is the result of a chaotic and unplanned process, when in reality your records are totally thought-through, even the mistakes.
A: Yes, it’s all intentional, very thought-through. You have the occasional accident, but they do a job. Controlled chaos is a good description of what I do, maybe because of the conscious wish to create music that’s three-dimensional. Most of the recordings are very flat, so that if you add new elements into the sound you can take the pop song to a different level. And this is the area I’m drawn towards, that I find exciting. It’s the reason people who listen to traditional pop music can find my work chaotic or ‘damaged,’ but actually it’s meant to sound like that.
Beck,
interview by Pablo Gil