Beck toys with EDM beats and a lion's growl on new single 'Wow'

After Beck won Album of the Year at the 2015 Grammys for Morning Phase, he released the killer electric rocker “Dreams” with pop powerhouse producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Ellie Goulding)—who actually used played in Beck’s backing band for years—but little other information about the tune was made available. Did it signal the beginning of a new project? Was it the victory lap for a banner year?

Now we may have some answers. Beck returned with a new song, “Wow,” also written with Kurstin, and announced plans for a new album, due out Oct. 21. On “Wow,” Beck is backed by whistling atmospherics and a lion’s growl, preaching about living in the here and now, doing whatever you damn well please. Its sound harkens back to the rap-style speak-singing fans first heard on Beck’s 1996 album Odelay.

When speaking to EW back in December, Kurstin teased that Beck may revert back to those roots: “We’ve been working on a lot of stuff that will be fun to play live,” he said. “It reminds me of some of the first stuff I heard from Beck when I first got into him, like Odelay and Midnite Vultures. It’s really fun and beat-driven.”

Beck teased the tune on Instagram earlier this week and Thursday he announced plans for the Morning Phase follow-up. He was most recently featured on Australian producer Flume’s sophomore set, Skin, on the standout album closer, “Tiny Cities.”

Hear “Wow” below.