Beck Hansen hasn’t released a proper album since 2008’s less-than-inspiring Modern Guilt, and he’s spent the intervening years keeping himself busy with endearingly loony projects: Producing for other people, inviting famous friends to help him cover full-length albums on his website, releasing an album that’s only available as sheet music, dropping an absurdist rap verse on a Childish Gambino song. Recently, pundits have posited that he might just be done with the whole idea of grouping songs into albums and then releasing those albums. Blessedly, though, that appears to not be the case. Beck’s just announced a quick run of Northeastern dates (plus one in Santa Cruz and another in Paris), many of which are solo-acoustic affairs. And according to a press release, those shows will include music from a forthcoming “acoustic record” which “can best be described as a self-contained work, one that came in the form of a burst of inspiration following the completion of last year’s groundbreaking Song Reader sheet music album.” There’s a reasonable chance, then, that this new album might return Beck to the bummed-out heights of Mutations and Sea Change, which would be a wonderful thing indeed. Check out the dates below.

05/19 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre
07/02 – Paris, FR @ Days Off Festival
07/27 – Wantagh, NY @ AmericanaramA Festival (with Bob Dylan, Wilco, Ryan Bingham)
07/28 – Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival
07/30 – Portland, ME @ State Theatre
08/02 – Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion (full-band electric show)
08/04 – Brooklyn, NY @ Prospect Park Bandshell (full-band electric show)