Album Review: Two Door Cinema Club - Beacon

Two Door Cinema Club
Beacon
Rating: Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It

For me, music can be transformed in a lot of ways. Sometimes I can listen to something in my car and it do nothing for me until I get immersed in it via headphones. Other times, the exact opposite can happen. Likewise, some recordings can just sound lifeless until bursting forth in a live setting. Two Door Cinema Club has always been that way for me. Their debut album Tourist History is a solid collection of alt-pop tunes that in recorded form always felt slightly reserved, holding back from truly taking off. When they announced a set at Coachella they were on my list of "to sees" but were not a "must see." Due to a lackluster set from another act, I decided to give them a try, and in concert, the tracks were completely rejuvenated, bursting with life that was only lurking beneath the surface in recorded form. Before the release of their second album Beacon, I was able to see Two Door Cinema Club live once more and, again, the music was youthful, alive, and just a lot of fun. The new material fit in seamlessly with the old, and it became a solid fact that Two Door Cinema Club is a formidable live act.

Of course, this brings me back to the recorded version of those songs and the same issue I had with their debut, Tourist History, that the songs on Beacon, while catchy as hell and beautifully produced, just seem lifeless on record, lacking the spark they have when the band presents them in front of an audience. Only in certain spots does a flicker of that live performance come out. First single "Sleep Alone" has it down perfectly. An insistent beat, buzzing synth bass, and delicate guitar work propel the track along, featuring a tender, longing vocal from lead singer Alex Trimble,



the white boy funky "Wake Up" turns into a glorious guitar rave up,



the blistering "Someday" is another track that hits it out of the park with a rousing chorus,



and on the more intimate and atmospheric "Pyramid" the band finally slows things down enough to show they can do texture, allowing the track to expand and breathe before launching into another big stadium chorus.

But for me the album just never really transcends the feeling that a lot of the tracks follow the same pattern, muted opening turning into a deliriously catchy chorus and building to a monstrous close. Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with that, it just lends itself to a lot of tracks that are indistinguishable from each other. Tracks like the driving opening song "New Year," slinky "Spring," and bouncy "Handshake,"



are all individually fun, peppy tracks, but just get lost when there is a long stretch. They succeed better when they throw some new things in the mix. Backing vocals from Valentina liven up the summery track "The World Is Watching," while the closing title track scales back the production to focus on minimal guitar lines and more enigmatic vocals. It is a striking track that really stands out amid all the other similar sounding tracks.

Again, Beacon is not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination. The songs are all catchy and wonderfully produced but just seem to stick to the same patterns that become more predictable over the course of the record. When the band even slightly steps out of that range, as on "Beacon" and "The World Is Watching," you see where they should have ventured a little more assuredly. It seems like they were worried about alienating the fans that made Tourist History such a success. While I applaud their concern for their fans, as an active listener, I was hoping they would beef things up a bit.

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.