Waking up on a simple Tuesday morning, I scrolled through my Instagram and came across a very unexpected, but pleasant surprise. Beach House had just announced that they would be releasing their 8th studio album. But this wasn’t just any album. It is said to be an 18-song double album that would be released in four chapters over the course of the next four months and that November 9th would be the day that the first four songs would be released.
Frantic with excitement since it’s been awhile since they released new music, I rushed to their website to get a better glimpse at what their new album entailed and I found the entire soundtrack to the album and I quickly knew that I was going to be sobbing tonight once the songs dropped. I read on and it was stated that the album was entirely produced by both Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally and this was a project that they had been working on since 2018, when their last album 7 was released.
After watching the live premiere and giving each song its own multitude of listens I was able to come to a conclusion on their ranking.
“Once Twice Melody,” my favorite out of the four, just struck a chord inside of me. It felt like Victoria Legrand was singing directly to me, about me. This song just resonated with me much more personally than the other three. It felt very dreamy and ethereal. Legrand’s voice carried me further and further into this fantasy that the video was producing as she beautifully sang “Days go by // In her eyes.” I’m still trying to decipher what exactly “Once Twice Melody” means but maybe within the next few songs releases, I can gather a better perspective.
“Superstar” was my second favorite and was the most catchy of the four. It felt painfully nostalgic and extremely sentimental. I could definitely hear past elements from Bloom and Teen Dream in this one. This song perfectly reinforced how this duo writes such sad, yet beautiful lyrics. Their final track on the EP, “Through Me” came in 3rd for me. It sounded like a clock or a countdown as to what will come next after these first four songs. There were a lot of complex layers within this track that made it sound very cosmic and captured that strong cinematic feel.
Although I truly did enjoy the most upbeat track, “Pink Funeral” was my least favorite out of the four. However, I appreciated their experimental sounds on this track and the visuals for this song were my favorite of all the videos. The lyric video was simply out of this world and felt so entrancing. It felt like a fairy tale was being told and was filled with a collage of different animations and psychedelic visuals. It made me think of Alice in Wonderland and had a falling down the rabbit hole effect. It was dark, yet dreamy at the same time, which is typical for Beach House to emanate the juxtaposition of desperation and hope in their music.
What all four songs succeeded in was the beautiful visuals and lyric videos that they were paired with. I watched each in order as they premiered and it felt extremely cinematic and even felt like a short film.
These four songs sound very promising for the songs to come next. Overall, Beach House never disappoints and their first chapter consisted of bittersweet lyrics and swift melodies that felt very entrancing to my ears. I’ve been a big fan of them since high school and their songs have gotten me through some tough moments so this makes me eager to see what the next few chapters will bring. I’m looking very forward to their album release day, February 18, 2022 and I plan to get my hands on tickets to see them on their tour next year. They released when they will drop the next chapters so keep an eye out for these next dates.
Chapter Two: December 8, 2021
Chapter Three: January 19, 2022
Chapter Four: February 18, 2022 (Full album release)