Songfacts®:

• "In the Night" is Beck's ghostly folk ballad about lost love, spiritual disillusionment, and the struggle to find certainty when long-held beliefs crumble. Finger-picked acoustic guitar, swaying strings, and understated horns give the track a haunting, nocturnal atmosphere, grounded by Beck's melancholic vocal delivery.
• The track appears on Beck's 15th album, Ride Lonesome, following the acoustic title track as its second single. Both songs share a quiet, heartbreak-worn quality, leaning into themes of devotion, isolation, and existential doubt.
• Beck married actress Marissa Ribisi in April 2004, and their divorce was finalized in September 2021. Released roughly five years after their separation, "In the Night" plays like a retrospective reflection on the long aftermath of a relationship ending.
  
  That backward glance fits into Beck's discography. His landmark 2002 album Sea Change captures the immediate devastation of his breakup with longtime partner Leigh Limon, while 2014's Morning Phase revisits that introspective, string-laden terrain years later. Ride Lonesome completes a loose trilogy of melancholic acoustic records.
• Beck wrote and produced "In the Night" himself. He plays acoustic guitar, electric bass, and synthesizer, alongside jazz legend Stanley Clarke on upright bass, reuniting with Clarke after his appearances on both Sea Change and Morning Phase. Blake Mills contributes acoustic guitar, including the song's mid-track solo, with additional bass from Thomas Harte. A 14-piece string section adds a sweeping, cinematic weight to the arrangement.
• The music video, directed by Mikai Karl, stars French actor Denis Lavant (Holy Motors). In a dramatic single-shot portrait, Lavant mourns an unseen loss, crying, lighting a cigarette, tossing his fedora, and restlessly pacing a cramped room.
  
  According to Beck, the production team traveled to Paris during a summer heatwave, spending weeks tracking down Lavant to convince him to take the role. The shoot took place on Lavant's birthday, marking his first music video appearance in nearly two decades.
  
  Filmed across seven takes, the shoot aimed for "some kind of liminal weirdness" in a moment where life feels uncertain. Instead of offering a explicit narrative, the video leaves Lavant alone with his grief, letting the music give voice to feelings left unspoken.