Album Review - Beach House: Bloom

Beach House
Bloom
Rating: Chilfos

Over four albums Beach House has never made drastic changes in their sound, choosing to add, refine, and polish it subtly and gently. You can basically enter their world at any point and be transfixed and transported into a gauzy realm of drifting keyboards, shimmering guitars and singer Victoria Legrand's amazingly evocative voice. With 2010's Teen Dream, I thought perhaps Beach House had reached the height of their powers and sound, and could take it no further. To me, there is really no other song as perfect as "10 Mile Stereo" from that album; its power to take over my emotions is unparalleled. It is the equivalent of knowing when there is nothing left to say and leaving at just the right moment; keeping your audience sated, but still wanting more. While I always wanted more from them, in my heart I knew I was going to be disappointed. Initially, Bloom sounded too much like Teen Dream, as if the songs could have been recorded during the same sessions. Several listens in I still wasn't really finding anything new that excited me, but something kept pulling me back to Bloom, and wouldn't release its grip. It finally dawned on me that , while Teen Dream was a fantastic record and has some of their best songs ever ("10 Mile Stereo," "Norway," and "Walk In The Park"), the album as a whole falls short of brilliant because of a couple of weaker tracks. Bloom, on the other hand, doesn't have any one or two songs that stand out from the pack; instead, the entire record is uniformly stellar. Each track plays of the next and taking one out would disrupt the entire flow. Their command of melody and strong lyrics propels them into the upper echelons of indie-rock. Bloom is their first masterpiece, and is a singularly haunting experience.

Bloom is a record about moving on from or running away from the past, striking out for new territory; whether it is by forgetting the past or making peace with it. Lead track and first single "Myth" contemplates making your own history, not allowing what's happen before dictate who you are, Legrand singing "can't keep hanging on/to what is dead and gone."



"Myth" is one of Beach House's finest moments, building off a simple drum machine pattern and interlocking guitars and keyboards. The flow of the track is exquisite, growing stronger as the track flows on, ending perfectly with the keyboard part echoing out.

In "Wild," a preset drum machine starts things off before real drums kick and the guitars and buzzing keyboards take over. Guitarist Alex Scally fills the track with echoing guitar trails, while Legrand's ethereal voice floating on top. The character in the song escaping a troubled home life through acting out, but knowing that is not the way to deal with it. Singing "One chance to fall behind the lines that will not let you/Can I believe in how the past is what will catch you?"



The trifecta of "Myth," "Wild," and third track "Lazuli" completes probably one of the best 1-2-3 salvos in indie pop. The soaring keyboards and guitars perfectly encapsulate the feeling of the track; washing over you in waves, keeping you warm and content. The lyrics of the track trying to make sense of a relationship, knowing it's fragile and can fall apart any moment: "Is nothing like lapis lazuli/let it go, back to me/Like no other you cant be replaced."



As I mentioned, Beach House hasn't made any great leaps with their sound, making gradual shifts that only make themselves apparent over long listens. You almost fail to notice on a track like "On The Sea" that it is very simple melody, almost shorn of any effect. Legrand's voice is achingly raw and tender, and sends shivers up your spine. The song is a gorgeous, impressionistic view of making your way out in the world, building your life on what has happened before: "Time will tell in spite of me/In hind of sight no peace of mind/It begins and we'll be fine/Where shadows bend and suddenly/The world becomes/And swallows me in." When Legrand's voice builds to the song's apex, with the piano, guitar, and keyboards merging into one, you can understand what beauty is.



If "On The Sea" was the closer, it would have been a perfect ending to a perfect record, but Beach House even goes one step further, closing out with the sublime "Irene." If there is a song that defines Beach House, this will likely be it. Rising drones of organ and keyboards erupting into a simple keyboard melody, while cymbals and drums flutter around. The guitars scrape and cajole the track along, before it all comes together in perfect harmony. The lyrics contemplating life and death: "There's no mystery at all/It's a strange paradise/You'll be waiting." There is a lengthy bridge where the song seems stuck in a rut, the tension building and building almost painfully, until a lone keyboard buzz breaks it, and the song takes off once again into the atmosphere. I can only imagine how amazing this track plays out live.



The haunting "Troublemaker" glides on a lonely organ line and elegant guitar line. The song, a remorse filled tale of a woman leaving her family for another man, but realizing, what he doesn't yet, that his face reminds her of what she has done: "Some day out of the blue it will find you/Always /Always a face to remind me/Someone like you." The brilliant tracks just keep coming and all work together to tell different sides to an expansive story. Whether it's about always looking ahead for better times to come ("New Years"), being afraid of the pain and struggle of life but knowing you have to go on ("The Hours"), or the haunting effects of memory ("Wishes"), the pieces work separately as well as a whole, collectively bringing you into its complex tapestry.

Bloom is one of the most beautiful records you will ever hear. Legrand's voice, which in the past tended to be a little bit over-the-top, fills the songs eloquently and with the right shades of emotion, and works perfectly with Beach House's more expansive sound, taking their humble beginnings and adding more (yet not ostentatious) elements which all fit right. While some of the lyrical themes seem somber, the music behind them is, for lack of a better word, transforming. It takes you out of yourself and out into the world; you become a part of it and it lingers long and hard in the soul. Bloom is a sublime masterpiece.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.