Beck’s New Album Will Be Seen, Not Heard

If you're been eagerly anticipating Beck's next album but don't play a musical instrument, you're out of luck -- at least for a little while.

On Wednesday, Beck's reps announced via a press release that the musician will follow up 2008's "Modern Guilt" with a book of sheet music with no audio component. "Beck Hansen's Song Reader" is comprised of twenty new songs that must be played to be heard.

Brand new tracks like "Do We? We Do" and "Don't Act Like Your Heart Isn't Hard" are featured in the booklet.

According to the singer's official site, the album is "an experiment in what an album can be at the end of 2012 - an alternative that enlists the listener in the tone of every track, and that's as visually absorbing as a dozen gatefold LPs put together."

The book features artwork from the likes of Marcel Dzama and Josh Cochran. It also contains a piece written by Jody Rosen (the music critic for Slate) and a forward by Beck himself.

The music book will be released by McSweeneys, an avant-garde publishing house. Those talented enough to bring the sheet music to life could be selected to appear on the company's monthly online magazine McSweeneys Internet Tendency - giving fans a chance to see Beck's new music come to life.

Though it's been nearly four years since Beck's last album, fans haven't been without new material. On Tuesday, Beck premiered three new songs as part of the soundtrack for "Sound Shapes," a PlayStation game. In May he released the single "I Just Started Hating Some People Today" as part of the Third Man Records Blue Series.

Oct. 23 will mark the release of "Rework," an album of remixes developed with Philip Glass.

The edgy rocker is set to take the stage for a low key performance at Bimbo's in San Francisco, Calif., on Thursday. No word yet on whether he'll perform songs from "Song Reader."

"Beck Hansen's Song Reader" is scheduled for release this December.