Beach House -
Teen Dream
85/100
Released January 25th via Subpop
Beach House’s third album and Sub Pop debut, Teen Dream, was recorded in a converted church called Dreamland. The results are nothing shy of divine. The music is so magnificent, you could mistaken it all for a dream. But it’s the real deal, and it’s one of the first gems of the new year.
The band has not abandoned their trademark dream pop sound of electronic drums, clean and twangy guitar lines, and ethereal vocals from Victoria Legrand. Using this as a foundation, Beach House turned the notch up, delivering slightly more uptempo songs compared to their previous albums.
The opener “Zebra,” sets the theme from the get-go with a little drive and backbone to their float-provoking atmosphere. The band sounds more refined than ever before.
“Walk in the Park” lockdowns a tight grove with the beginning pace set by thumping electronic drums, before diving into a sweeping swell of organs, while later on in the same track, the listener tastes some mellowed down surf riffs as guitarist Alex Scally strums in a rapid fashion.
As the album progresses, each piece prevails at being audio art in the most perfect sense. On the pleasantly cheery track “Used to Be,” Legrand exercises her piano chops a polished pop performance, and the electronic drum track on “Love of Mine” sounds like a long lost 80s beat, while the first sounds of “Better Times” resembles an early Super Nintendo videogame, it actually serves as a sensually sleek ballad that centerpieces itself as clear standout in my mind.
The album’s most energetic moment can be found in the last minute and a half of “10 Mile Stereo” when the drums propel into full throttle and the soaring ambiance is set to stun. Folks who argue Beach House’s music makes them fall asleep should listen to this. I dare them to catch Zs here. After this climax, the dust settles for Teen Dream’s most intimate song: “Real Love,” a ballad that consists mostly of piano and a hair-standing vocal performance from Legrand.
There are small occurrences where their “trademark” sound begins to blur with all the other songs, making it difficult to decipher the differences. However after repeated listening, these intricacies are can be easily noticed can. Otherwise, Beach House has gone Merriweather Post Pavilion on us, giving us a nearly flawless album (on a good day, I’d say it is perfect) in the first month of 2010. Album of the year? Odds are looking good.
‘Teen Dream’ is out via Sub Pop on Jan. 26
Browse Timeline
Comments ( 1 Comment )
Freakin’ amazin album. Perfectly suited to this debut year 2010. Each song has a story and a feeling in itself. Thanks Beach House.
Cako added these pithy words on
Feb 13 10 at
2:30 pm
