Quarterlifeparty

Beach House’s Teen Dream comes out in a little over a week, and I can’t give enough praise for this album. It’s been on repeat for me for about 2 weeks now and it still just keeps getting better and better. There are two main things that have pushed Beach House to new creative heights on this album, 1) The songwriting is just amazing and 2) They have added a drummer (at least for recording, not sure if they will have alive drummer when touring). It’s really just one classic sounding song after the next.

You have the same “mystical music-box” atmosphere that Beach House created on their previous two, similar ghostly vocals by Victoria Legrand, beautiful and subtly brilliant guitar and piano melodies.. so the evolution onto this album seems completely organic, there is no novelty fluff being added, no forced growth from one album to the next. You can sit and listen to these songs for hours and not get tired of them, they put you in a comfortable place, sitting by a fire on a cold night, laying down in a field looking up at the stars, these are just some of the images/feelings this album conjures up for me, although all these images have something slightly eerie about them, but still comfortable to imagine. Sure, that might sound a little cheesy, but it’s the best way I can describe the beauty of this album. “Lover Of Mine” almost could be a Stevie Nicks song.

It seems like the overall theme of the album seems to be heartbreak, but it feels more hopeful upon each listen even when Legrand is singing about things that are no longer there, lost feelings. Love gained and lost is central in the prose, and the title of the album seems to reinforce this idea ( and I must say a classic album name) of a young,innocent, somewhat naieve notion of love, or at least a wanting to return to it. On “Walk In The Park” Legrand sings “The face that you saw in the door isn’t looking at you anymore/ The name that you call in its place isn’t waiting for your embrace/ The word that you learned to behold cannot hold you anymore” and on The whole album plays out in what feels like an enchanted fog. This is an album not to be missed this year, and it sets the standard very high for the rest of the year.

You can stream Beach House Teen Dream over at NPR. The album comes out Jan 26th and make sure you get tickets for their May 8th show at the 2640 space with openers Washed Out.

Beach House “Norway”

Tags: , Beach House