All Purpose Beach House Thread *

I discovered this band soon after their sophomore album, 'Devotion,' was released and have been in love with them ever since. Is it just me, or do you also think they get better and better with each subsequent release? 'Bloom' just blew me away on the first listen, then seemed to reveal even more complexity upon further plays. I think this band deserve a thread of their own. No derogatory comments please, as I might get upset!

 

jangle

dreamy

pop



How's that for random?


I like 'em

 

I found their first three albums mostly tedious and boring, but indeed they got better and better with each album and I really liked their fourth one "Bloom" from start to finish. Hopefully this trend will continue!

 

I agree - each one is getting better, and I finally broke down and picked up Bloom on vinyl because I liked it enough. I think it's a serious winter LP however - I haven't found myself reaching for it in quite some time, but it got a good amount of spins in this past brutal Michigan winter.

 

That is interesting. I think 'Teen Dream' is quite similar to 'Bloom', so surprised you consider it boring. Play it again, and then some more!

 

Devotion was the first Beach House album I enjoyed, but I've loved both Teen Dream and Bloom.

This is certainly an exciting band in its prime...

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

Love them. Saw them in a small bar in Philly around their first album.

Great bedroom music.

 

I love Beach House, though I'll admit I've probably listened to each album in full only once. Team Dream and Bloom are both 4 sides of vinyl each, so listening to them in doses works well. I've seen them live three times and they put on a great, dynamic show.

As this thread is inviting random comments about them, I'll also make it known that I have a massive crush on Victoria Legrand.

 

I agree with the OP. They seem to get stronger and stronger with each release. Bloom "blew me away" as well. In fact, I would still call it my favorite album of 2012.

 

I would like a beach house. Bloom is one of my more favored recent releases by a 'non-dinosaur' group..

 

I listened to all their albums at least four or five times (as many dream pop/slow core albums need their time to burn deeper) and the first thing I did after "Bloom" was giving its predecessor "Teen Dream" some additional listening, because so many liked it, while I wasn't too grabbed by it. It didn't help. Perhaps more a sound thing than a song thing, because songs are somewhat similar, but sound really has evolved and become fuller ...

 

I haven't listened to them in quite a while.

I'll play Teen Dream at lunch (now).

 

I loved Teen Dream but didn't get into their other albums much, including Bloom. I saw them live and it was one of the worst concert experiences I've ever had: painfully loud with seizure-inducing strobe lights.

 

In the abscence of any news on their website regarding a forthcoming album, I thought this might be an interesting topic to discuss in the meantime. Stereogum have compiled a 10 best songs list which reads as follows:

10. “Take Care” (from Teen Dream, 2010)
The sublime “Take Care” Is an adolescent ode to unrequited love, capturing the period when lost love feels like one of Dante’s circles of hell. When Legrand, in a fever dream-esque vision alludes to “Swimming in the lake/ We’ll come across a snake/ It is a real and then it’s fake,” it suggests a certain perfidy. The relationship as they know it is irrevocably altered, and probably doomed, but Legrand clings to a wide-eyed quixotic notion of its eventual redemption.
9. “Other People” (from Bloom, 2012)
“Other People” is one of Legrand’s more emotionally direct tunes; on it, she dustily ruminates over elegiac keyboards and a winding guitar motif of how “Other people want to keep in touch/ Something happens and it’s not enough.” She’s hinting at how some romantic relationships lead to lifetime friendships, and others wilt like flowers in the frost. Yet she doesn’t sound in the least bit resigned, and manages to transmogrify grief into a grand catharsis.
8. “Norway” (from Teen Dream, 2010)
One of the more ornate Beach House songs, “Norway” was the track that transcended the minimalist work on the band’s first two albums. Thematically, it’s rather brutal, with Legrand urging “He’s a hunter for a lonely heart.” When she sings, “With your tiny heart/ You let us in the wooden house,” she hints that what’s been discovered is fools gold. And, listening to the tune’s insistent refrain of “Norway,” it sounds eerily like “No way” in her consonant dropping proclivities, perhaps subconsciously hinting at what she’s attempting to escape.
7. “Zebra” (from Teen Dream, 2010)
Perhaps Beach House’s most beloved song, “Zebra” opens Teen Dream; its lyric “Black and white horse/ arching among us” hints at the dichotomy so prevalent in many Beach House songs. And when Legrand disarmingly contemplates, “Don’t I know you better than the rest?” it’s suffused with utter ambivalence, a certain resignation regarding the object of her affection — whom she imbues with a non-judgmental character sketch worthy of the Velvet Underground’s “Stephanie Says.” She obviously sees the inherent contradictions in the protagonist, but nonetheless responds with abject compassion at their flaws.
6. “Apple Orchard” (from Beach House, 2006)
“Apple Orchard” has a majestic grace redolent of some of Galaxie 500’s finest moments. It finds Legrand droning sweetly, “You know how it is my friend/ In the boxes of those old picture frames.” It’s like a sepia-toned photograph, but it never succumbs to cheap nostalgia. It’s pure equanimity, and is emblematic of much of the band’s early work.
5. “Gila” (from Devotion, 2008)
The metronomic “Gila” is positively minimalist in comparison to the band’s later fleshed-out compositions. Eschewing the synths that would color much of their later work, it’s a cabaret torch song that moves at a snail’s pace. But it’s Legrand’s extended enunciation of “Gila” that devastates. And when she suggests, “It’s why you keep your little lovers in your lap/ Give a little more than you like,” it hints at perniciousness on the part of the protagonist. But the ultimate kiss-off occurs when she cautions, “Don’t you waste your time,” like she’s conducting an emotional exorcism.
4. “10 Mile Stereo” (from Teen Dream, 2010)
When Kirsten Dunst was asked what song made her cry in a Spin interview, she answered, “10 Mile Stereo.” It was a song, she noted, that she listened to over and over again during the filming of Melancholia to prepare her for working on the soul-crushing movie. It’s a magnificent song instrumentally — the synths gurgle hypnotically, suggesting a certain queasy treacherousness — but it’s easy to see why Dunst would use the song to isolate herself prior to performing in such a powerful film, and LeGrand’s final line of “Love’s like a pantheon/ It carries on forever” captures the ineluctably affecting end of the world evoked in the picture.
3. “Lazuli” (from Bloom, 2012)
Legrand has stated that “lazuli” was a word she long wanted to integrate into a song, not for a literal translation or anything along those lines. The song itself is a Cocteau Twins-esque dream-pop number, replete with guardian angel backing vocals. But the word somehow assumes the heart of the song brilliantly. It’s a bitterly blue, lachrymose, and downcast tune that fits the brilliant gestalt of Bloom like a glove.
2. “Master of None” (from Beach House, 2008)
For anyone who’s seen the terrific Miranda July film The Future, this track will always be inextricably tied to the director/actress wrapping herself in a shirt like a faux cocoon in an utterly unforgettable scene. July is trying desperately to connect via technology through a YouTube video soundtracked by the tune, which is somewhat counterintuitive to the thrust of the song. The track itself is one of the band’s finest, with Legrand crooning that you “cry all the time/ because you’re not having fun.” Her magnificent lyrics often get lost in the rather beguiling amalgamation of slide guitars and vintage synthesizers, but dig deeper and they’re enigmatic yet engaging, capturing what it’s like to be utterly lost in a world of technological confusion and disengagement in the 21st century.
1. “Silver Soul” (from Teen Dream, 2010)
Beach House have long been considered something of the ideal house band for a David Lynch film, but what they’ve most conjured over the years is the Twin Peaks scenes when the giant would break through in a hallucinatory vision to warn Dale Cooper of impending doom. The refrain on “Silver Soul” echoes his warning that “It is happening again.” What is happening? It’s hard to say, but a perusal of the lyrics indicates that “Silver Soul” is a devastating, “vision, complete illusion,” in the words of Legrand, bordering on licentious and carnal. The light was blinding in those sordid Twin Peaks scenes at the Roadhouse, and for anyone who’s seen Beach House live, it’s hard to not imagine the Blade Runner-esque light of their archaic yet brilliant stage setup shining through, like a beacon illustrating a nefarious epiphany.

So, what do you think?

 

I like Bloom much more than Teen Dream, so 5 out of 10 from the latter is definitely too many for my taste.

 

You say it like it's a bad thing!

If you can't get into the whole dreamy trance-y endless-loops minimalism glacier-paced hypnotic vibe this may not be the band for you. There really wasn't much of a shift between Teen Dream and Bloom although the latter was probably more expressly "beautiful" with a more pretty harmonic development and uplift.

 

I'll say one thing they like their arpeggios
Hope a new album comes along soon

 

Too much of Bloom is missing from that list. And Myth isn't in the top 10?

Bring on the new album!

 

New album, "Depression Cherry", out August 28!

https://www.subpop.com/news/2015/05/26/beach_houses_depression_cherry_out_august_28th

 

Caught Beach House live on Saturday night, in Philly at Union Transfer. It was the 2nd night of a 2 night stand, both sold out. They were FANTASTIC live. The light show and projections fit the music perfectly as well. They were augmented by a bassist/keyboard guy and a drummer.

Somehow their music became even more passionate and moving live than it is on disc. I think I stood there transfixed the entire time, feeling like I was seeing a band that's on the brink of breaking huge, in a club.

If you ever have a chance to see them live, I can't recommend it enough.

 

I just came upon this interview with Charlie Rose from last August. It was insightful. I also found them both to be very thoughtful (and humble).

If you're a fan, enjoy.

Beach House - Charlie Rose »

 

I just them! Listening most with Spotify, but I’m planning to get all the cd:s.
Really nice interview! Thank you so much for sharing, Dear 23.

 

I just saw this today. June 30th can't come soon enough.

Beach House to Release 'B-Sides and Rarities' Album Worldwide on June 30th

 

Has anyone found a place to order "B-sides and rarities" vinyl in Europe? HMV has it, but the shipping to Denmark is 15 pound!

 

Looking forward to getting 'Used to Be' (the single version) on tangible, shiny disc at last, not to mention 'The Arrangement' and 'Baby'. Sheesh, 'tis a veritable smorgasbord and I could go all night.
In other words, I can't wait either!!