A new kind of 'album'

If you’re looking for a new album to listen to this year, don’t pick Beck’s “Song Reader”. “Song Reader” is a twenty-song release- on sheet music. Twenty previously unreleased, unrecorded songs written by Beck Hansen waiting to be brought to life by your own interpretation.

“Song Reader” was a project that began in 2004 and was finally released in Dec. of 2012. Not only does the “album” contain twenty songs but also over 100 pages of artwork. In an interview done by McSweeney’s, the publishing company that released “Song Reader”, Beck says that he’s had the idea for the project since the early 90’s when his first album was produced and he received sheet music versions of his album from a publisher.

Though unconventional, “Song Reader” has become popular with fans and other artists that create their own music. On www.songreader.net there are videos and recordings of people performing multiple songs from the “album” in their own style, simply based off of the sheet music. If you want to listen to “Song Reader”, it will take a bit more effort than just going to the iTunes store.