POPSCREEN: Beck

Beck’s video for “Modern Guilt” is a deliberately grainy, wacky mini-parable, and a fitting title track for an album fueled by feelings of alienation.

Here’s what happens: a long-haired Beck, oddly evoking Joni Mitchell, lopes inexpressively around the streets of a black-and-white Los Angeles. But he’s not as isolated as his new urban hippie vibe might lead you to assume—a moddish Anton Chigurh look-alike is stalking him, using the classic reconnaissance techniques of popping out from behind mailboxes and cartwheeling.

And what does he do when he catches up to Beck? He hugs him, of course.

So does our creepy friend symbolize Beck’s persistent guilt? Is he a Warhol Factory member who recently escaped from a time capsule? It’s always possible he’s just a rejected marionette left over from the “Information” tour.

The video’s fun and ridiculous use of stop motion makes “Modern Guilt” feel like a YouTube clip churned out by a bored, cinematically precocious 18 year-old, which isn’t a bad thing. The song harkens back to the Doors’ “People Are Strange,” a less-than-subtle reminder that Beck, now almost 40, is a little cranky.

But this midlife crisis-y, disillusioned Beck is just fine. While “Modern Guilt” lacks the high-budget weirdness we’ve come to expect from his videos, it delivers the originality and absurdist flair that defines them. But I, for one, do miss seeing him dance around like an awkward baby bird.

—Molly O. Fitzpatrick