Culture Blues

Music: “Teen Dream” – Beach House

So, I am well aware of the fact we are only about a month into 2010, and that there are more than a few major releases slated to come out before we kiss it goodbye. That being said, after hearing Beach House's Teen Dream, I am sure that this is the best record to have come out so far this year. Will it hold on to that title all year the way Merriweather Post Pavilion seemingly did in '09? Well, that really all depends on Gorillaz, Lady Gaga, and Paramore (I am totally kidding about that last one). Chances are, probably not... While this record is not as good as M.P.P, it IS Beach House's best album to date, and a wonderful trip to a vibrant dream-pop landscape that has more colors in it than their previous release. Teen Dream is all the things you should have liked about the Cocteau Twins and Mazzy Star distilled with a revisionist's eye for highlights that never comes off as calculated or contrived.

Formed in Baltimore in 2004, Beach House's career trajectory is what you would expect from Pitchfork darlings with music industry luminaries in their lineage; the duo's eponymously titled indie-label debut was the kind of record you scoffed at your friends for not knowing (they never did). Said debut made it's way onto all of the "it" critics' best-of lists for 2006 and put the band on some radars. Their second LP (Devotion) earned lead singer and organist Victoria Legrand a guest spot on a Grizzly Bear record, and a G.B. callback for a contribution to the New Moon soundtrack. Which leads us to Teen Dream, the band's third and most complete work; they are on Sub Pop now (hurray for better distribution), they have grown as song writers, and they seem to be just about ready to burst.

Teen Dream is 50 minutes of ethereal bliss and melancholy spread across ten tracks that shimmer and soar like your favorite recordings from the Creation Records catalogue (except WAY less British). This is not shoegaze... There is far too much keyboard and not enough distortion for it to be shoegaze, but it has a lot of the same spirit. Songs like Silver Soul, with its watery bird chirping intro and delayed slide figure atop a cloud of organ resonation, and Take Care, with it's fugally elegant motif throughout the verses and slap-back-chorus-sparkle, reverberate like soundtracks of dreams you have only after you've stayed out past the Moon. Zebra, meanwhile, is a masterful example of a band growing into its own expectations without a hint of pain; built upon a doppler-like panned riff, the song gives off a tremendous sense of movement that I feel is as much a metaphor as it is a sonic novelty. The hauntingly detuned Norway sounds like Nico and The Edge got together to make a shadowy single in order to make Bono jealous (not a bad idea... apart from it being impossible). The two greatest moments on this record are without a doubt Walk In the Park, and 10 Mile Stereo: The first is an ode to loneliness punctuated by a chorus melody that will NEVER leave your head, while the second is the kind of aural achievement that will have headphone junkies smiling on many a train ride home.

There are a few moments that miss the mark a little. Lover Of Mine has far more disco in it than it ever needed, and Better Times just doesn't seem to stand out in an album full of wootness (I read that term online recently and have been dying to use it for a while).

After having read this review you already know what my opinion is... I know you don't know who Beach House is, but if you are into Slowdive, My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, etc. you NEED to own this record. If you don't know any of the previously mentioned bands then you don't deserve internet access. Finally... If you are into new and under the radar-ish music... You're welcome!