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Beach House (Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand) make haunting music - the kind which would seem at home in any independently made 1960's love film fitted snugly at the end as one lover died whilst the other wept uncontrollably. Despite this generally joyless outlook, the press release seems to preach the exact opposite; hailing the album as the perfect ''antidote to the winter blues''. Confusing? Perhaps...
Not to say this is a bad record in any shape or form. In fact, quite the opposite. It's an album that gets lost within itself and creates a carousel of fuzziness and disorientation - making the world around seem slight and almost irrelevant. It would be an easy option to compare the overall aesthetics of Devotion to that of a drug-induced state, but that would only tell half the story. Wedding Bell sets the tone for the record, dancing around bouncing bass melodies and looping, echoed guitar loops (at a guess). Gila steadies the pace down a bit but by the time fifth track, Holy Dances, comes around, it's clear that Scally and Legrand use the vocal not just as a lyrical conduit but as another instrument. They cement the chorus of chimes which, in turn, extrudes an almost spiritual radiance from the album.
Later on, Some Things Last A Long Time is a beautifully simple song that perfectly complements an un-complex album. This is a typical Bella Union release. It is raw, courteous and understated in a genial kind of way. Perfect for any lazy afternoon where aggression and gangster-rap seem to be of another world. --David McGuire
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Beach House is an American duo that are often described as 'Dream Pop'. Their lulling vocals do certainly draw comparison with the likes of The Cocteau Twins and, more recently, Grouper, while instrumentally they are nearer to Joanna Newsom, Nick Drake, elements of Broadcast and even Big Star. The third track on the album, `Gila', even sounds a little like the Beatles' quieter moments.
Acoustic singer-songwriter style records can often feel a little tedious, but Beach House have managed to find a place somewhere between the rich vein of melodious, harmonic, wandering vocals and the land of traditional pop songs...and they have mined it to perfection.
The album sounds like it could have been made in the late 60s, yet at the same time it sounds fresh. There's plenty of variety in here, from the melancholic drone of `Turtle Island' to Spaceman 3 infused lilts of `All the Years'.
Fans of any of the bands mentioned above will find something to treasure in this record, along with fans of the Beach Boys, Animal Collective and Stereolab. Beach House bring elements of all these bands together but produce something truly unique and original. A record worth listening to.
Acoustic singer-songwriter style records can often feel a little tedious, but Beach House have managed to find a place somewhere between the rich vein of melodious, harmonic, wandering vocals and the land of traditional pop songs...and they have mined it to perfection.
The album sounds like it could have been made in the late 60s, yet at the same time it sounds fresh. There's plenty of variety in here, from the melancholic drone of `Turtle Island' to Spaceman 3 infused lilts of `All the Years'.
Fans of any of the bands mentioned above will find something to treasure in this record, along with fans of the Beach Boys, Animal Collective and Stereolab. Beach House bring elements of all these bands together but produce something truly unique and original. A record worth listening to.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The name of Beach House might imply a certain kind of pop -- sunny, frothy, sort of a Beach Boys vibe.
If so, that name is very deceptive, because their music is none of the above. Hailing from Baltimore, Beach House's second album "Devotion" is more like sleeping in a haunted, jewelled music box -- all ghostly singing, lushly sparkling pop instrumentation and sensually dreamy melodies.
"Wedding Bell" spins itself a stately, rippling organ'n'grimy riffs framework, with Victoria Legrand's pretty, eerie voice singing distantly, "You're ringing the only wedding bell/and we're swimming the seas we know so well... I tried to stay in line in our bed/in our heads/Oh, but your wish is my command..." It's very catchy in a neo-Victorian shoegazer way, although much catchier than anything that follows.
But things get far eerier in "You Came to Me," a shimmering ghostly pop ballad punctuated by sweeps of satiny keyboard and timpani. That style carries over into the lilting, swirling sound of "Gila," ruled by a truly exquisite organ melody. And not many singers could sing the name of a lizard and actually sound serious.
And those songs set the tone for much of the album -- ethereal organ laments, shimmering little pop tunes strung with tambourine and swirling guitar, sparkling melodies with spacey carnival synth, tinkly soaring ballads, and so forth. But it ends as catchily -- if more alluringly -- as it started, with the warm, wobbling "Home Again." It sounds exactly as the title would imply.
If I had to describe the particular sound of Beach House, I'd have to say it sounds like an American Nico... fronting the musical lovechild of Mazzy Star and Goldfrapp's latest. Yeah, that sounds weird, but "Devotion" has qualities of those bands -- the haunting vocals, the swirling shoegazer-like pop balladry, and the sparkling framework of lush, warm electronica. Well, the carnival music doesn't entirely fit in.
The first song is a bit of a sore thumb, being rockier and peppier than all the rest -- it's lovely, but seems like a hook to draw you in. But after that, the album is enfolded in a swirling mass of swirling ringing guitars and Legrand's majestic, shimmering organ. Alex Scally wraps every melody in a elusive, hazy shell of keyboard. And there's a Nicoesque tambourine that gets shaken through some of the songs, as well as that great timpani.
Legrand's voice is really a lovely one, but filtered to sound powerfully ethereal. She can infuse a feeling of poignant longing into the songs -- they tend to be about loving someone in the moment, or from afar ("we still have the summers/to be good to one another"), and have moments of truly striking imagery ("... spending money/on a desert rose/holy dances and acronyms/for bones").
Haunting, beautiful and melodious, their second album "Devotion" is a step up for Beach House. Definitely one of this year's must-hears.
If so, that name is very deceptive, because their music is none of the above. Hailing from Baltimore, Beach House's second album "Devotion" is more like sleeping in a haunted, jewelled music box -- all ghostly singing, lushly sparkling pop instrumentation and sensually dreamy melodies.
"Wedding Bell" spins itself a stately, rippling organ'n'grimy riffs framework, with Victoria Legrand's pretty, eerie voice singing distantly, "You're ringing the only wedding bell/and we're swimming the seas we know so well... I tried to stay in line in our bed/in our heads/Oh, but your wish is my command..." It's very catchy in a neo-Victorian shoegazer way, although much catchier than anything that follows.
But things get far eerier in "You Came to Me," a shimmering ghostly pop ballad punctuated by sweeps of satiny keyboard and timpani. That style carries over into the lilting, swirling sound of "Gila," ruled by a truly exquisite organ melody. And not many singers could sing the name of a lizard and actually sound serious.
And those songs set the tone for much of the album -- ethereal organ laments, shimmering little pop tunes strung with tambourine and swirling guitar, sparkling melodies with spacey carnival synth, tinkly soaring ballads, and so forth. But it ends as catchily -- if more alluringly -- as it started, with the warm, wobbling "Home Again." It sounds exactly as the title would imply.
If I had to describe the particular sound of Beach House, I'd have to say it sounds like an American Nico... fronting the musical lovechild of Mazzy Star and Goldfrapp's latest. Yeah, that sounds weird, but "Devotion" has qualities of those bands -- the haunting vocals, the swirling shoegazer-like pop balladry, and the sparkling framework of lush, warm electronica. Well, the carnival music doesn't entirely fit in.
The first song is a bit of a sore thumb, being rockier and peppier than all the rest -- it's lovely, but seems like a hook to draw you in. But after that, the album is enfolded in a swirling mass of swirling ringing guitars and Legrand's majestic, shimmering organ. Alex Scally wraps every melody in a elusive, hazy shell of keyboard. And there's a Nicoesque tambourine that gets shaken through some of the songs, as well as that great timpani.
Legrand's voice is really a lovely one, but filtered to sound powerfully ethereal. She can infuse a feeling of poignant longing into the songs -- they tend to be about loving someone in the moment, or from afar ("we still have the summers/to be good to one another"), and have moments of truly striking imagery ("... spending money/on a desert rose/holy dances and acronyms/for bones").
Haunting, beautiful and melodious, their second album "Devotion" is a step up for Beach House. Definitely one of this year's must-hears.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
this their second cd is just gorgeous...dream pop, little lush orchestrations, so simple yet so full of thriving energy and passion. victoria's voice just soars...if you're lucky this will get in your head (heart) and never leave....
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Just buy it!
Just buy everything that Beach house create....I don't know what to first mention....creativity, imagination, vocals, an out of earth sound. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Lena Mac
bypasses ordinary consciousness
I could not hum a single tune from this record, or quote one line of the lyrics: it bypasses ordinary consciousness and goes straight to the level of dreams. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Desk
Beach House
Good album, I simply love this group! Saw them recently at Oran Mor in Glasgow, best gig in ages. So much better than all the garbage in the charts just now. Read more
Published 18 months ago by J. Kerr
It's one of those rare albums
I just love this. I've had it for at least two months now, and I still want to listen to it in its entirety all the time (these days, most albums get around 3 listens from me... Read more
Published on 22 May 2010 by mr hornsby
Bit of a grower
Definitely this album is a bit of a grower. At first it sounded a little average, with repeated listens its developed and opened up.
Keep with it and I think you'll like it.
Keep with it and I think you'll like it.
Published on 3 May 2010 by Mr. D. Vickery
ridiculous
this album is incredible. stop mucking around and buy it.
it won't disapoint.
it won't disapoint.
Published on 23 April 2008 by M. P. Byrne
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