I have recently discovered this album, and this thread.
I love the album, the vibe, the songwriting, Beck's tone of voice and emotion, it is all a big breath of fresh air.
That being said, there are some serious issues. From the first listen, the parallels were forever drawn in my mind. Someone here mentioned the Harvest sound, which I caught also. The whole thing sounds like a cross between harvest and Kid A.
Beautiful, spacious, love the strings and arrangements in general, but just a little too unoriginal overall. A valid artistic achievement; the first 5 listens were bliss, but further listens left me wanting a bit more.
Isolated example: the transition into the second chorus in "Paper Tiger" just sounds so blah. Almost like it was a neglected moment that no one paid any attention to, yet, as a build into a chorus it just screams for some kind of a punch, but nothing. It almost drops for half a measure before the strings decide that they should have come in a second ago.
It just needs a teensy bit of bite from time to time.
Maybe its just me. I am still lietening, though!
As for the drums, close mics for sure, but I would leave the reso head on the kick, just have one without a hole, and keep the mic a good 12" back.
Sorry for the rant-ish post
