I remember first discovering Beach House. About two years ago, my best friend was taking a trip to Rochester. She was headed there with another girl from our high school days to see the band perform live. I didn’t care much at all to go with them. I think the ticket must have seemed too expensive at the tim,e or maybe I was too much of a straight arrow to skip a day of classes. Boy, am I seriously kicking myself today for not hopping on that train when I had the chance.
Beach House is tricky. Sometimes I listen and I am instantly filled with happiness. A smile comes across my face and I can’t help but sing along. But much of my time spent listening, especially lately, sort of makes me, well, melancholy. And that’s exactly what Beach House’s music is. Despondent.
2010’s Teen Dream became nothing less than an instant hit for me. It was on continual replay in my ear buds. Lyrically, this band can put emotions into words better than my own inner monologue can. I think this is where I get caught up in my forlorn state of being. It is simply beautiful with the sound thumping behind the languid voice of Victoria Legrand.
I won’t lie; at first I really could have sworn a man was the lead singer. Who wouldn’t with that velvety, multi-layered voice? That is, by the way, a definite compliment. The haunting guitar and keyboarding of Zebra sounds symphonic. It is the perfect example of how hypnotizing the d
uo from Baltimore can be. Take Care resonates within a deep place in my heart. It is a beautiful message behind a visceral sound.
After becoming obsessed with their music, I ventured out to find what else the band had to offer other than my one and only friendless vinyl. Needless to say, their earlier album, Devotion, which was released in ’06, fed my mania. The lonely and abandoned sound was ever present, especially with favorites likes Gila and D.A.R.L.I.N.G. I really love how the band isn’t afraid to use funky instruments like the harpsichord. The songs are downright heartbreaking. “Give a little more than you like, pick apart the past, you’re not going back. Don’t you waste your time.” Gila is all about holding a torch for that certain someone. And we all have that person who has come and gone in out of our lives, and is possibly still around.
But the gorgeousness of Bloom, the band’s latest, and some say greatest record, has honestly kept me together in the past month. It is a journey they invite you on, and I have happily joined in for the ride. Myth has been my default setting, if you will, for a while now. “What comes after this, momentary bliss, the consequence of what you do to me.” Could this line be any more poignant? It is so very true of a relationship in its final sinking stages. Something you want to make work so very badly, is hopeless. You find bliss in a moment, and then it’s gone, leaving you to wonder if it was ever true to begin with. The band is in constant reach of that unique and very precise disposition.
To be quite frank, all Beach House makes me want to do is lay on the floor of an attic, candles lit all around me… to close my eyes, and let the coated ambiance wash over me. Whether you’re a vet to Beach House or a newcomer, I think if you listened closely you would utterly and outright be of the same mind. In the words of Beach House, “oh, let the ashes fly”.