Released - 1/26/10
Label - Sub Pop Records
BLURB - Mixing aspects of folk, indie and dream-pop, Beach House floods their latest release 'Teen Dream,' with waves of sonic charm and storytelling. For the outsiders looking in, it's hard to really explain what Beach House sounds like - I guess it's some kind of cross between Fleetwood Mac and Grizzly Bear, filled with reverb. Whatever it is, it works - even though Beach House's polarity has been enigmatic at best over the last several years. It seems that anyone and everyone who hears Beach House has a definitive opinion on their sound, be it good or bad. 'Teen Dream' bridges the gap between the lovers and haters, becoming the group's most accessible and approachable record to date. Everything from the feel of the music to the honesty of the lyrics is entirely relatable. Looks like Beach House has finally opened up their gates and simply want us to press play.
Rating - 8 out of 10
FULL STORY - As a New Yorker, by law, I frequent Pitchfork more than the average person. A lot of times Pitchfork is way too cool to post positive music reviews. They tend to have their noses in the air when it comes to trending indie music, and rightly so, but every now and then they'll throw out a rating of 9 or higher (out of 10) to see if we're paying attention. Of recent memory, they handed Animal Collective's 'Merriweather Post Pavilion' a big juicy 9.6 last year. But needless to be said, Pitchfork is very, very critical of the music they listen to and review. Beach House's 'Teen Dream' garnered a 9. That's fairly impressive in it's own right. You have to realize though, Pitchfork's 9 is something to be admired or reveled, the type of record that comes around once maybe every five years or so. 'Teen Dream' is good...but it's not that good.
I won't lie, I have been anticipating this album for quite some time. I researched Beach House with great fervor last year while I was in my 'Grizzly Bear' phase. I even stood in line for three hours to see them co-headline a free show in Williamsburg, only to be turned away after capacity was met. I was ok with that, but somehow Jay-Z and Beyonce got in, and I know they didn't stand in that line. That's another story for another day.
Without wasting any more time, I'll just say that 'Norway' is the best song on the album. This track's been around for a while and was even featured on iTunes as their weekly free download about a couple of months back. Given the fact that people love free things, it got a ton of downloads by some not-so-intelligent music fans and subsequently a ton of terrible reviews. I just looked back again at some of them and could only laugh at the comments. One particular review by a girl who's user name was "Ilikealltypesofmusic" said she was frustrated by how the instruments they were using sounded broken...
What she is referring to is this wobbly organ tone that is matched with a palette of stretched out and elastic sounding guitar notes that bend in all kinds of directions, which actually makes the entire track sparkle with character and mood. To me this is the selling point. With an extremely polished and bright chorus waiting in the wings, the verse pulls the listener in and prods their ears with an array of tones, colors, moods and haze that are outside of your average person's definition of normal. This uniqueness and ingenuity kind of inadvertently keeps the listener hanging on with each musical strand that floats by. When the chorus hits, everything seems to lock in together, creating a euphoric chant about the westernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula...and somehow it's cool. 'Norway' also has this really amazing, understated psychedelic charm to it that is almost dizzying. Every time I listen to this song I always somehow become disoriented and feel like I'm drunk or about to fall over. Everything about the texture and feel of this song, and how the chorus plays off the verse...it just works.
The third track on 'Teen Dream' goes a little dark for the dreamy duo. While the music itself on 'Walk in the Park' consists of pulsing organs and a lower, seemingly uninterested guitar riff, the lyrics focus in on the loss of a good friend:
"The face that you saw in the door isn't looking at you anymore. The name that you call in it's place isn't waiting for your embrace. The word that you learned to behold cannot hold you anymore. In a matter of time, it would slip from my mind. In and out of my life, you would slip from my mind. In a matter of time..."
The lyrics and swirling combinations of keyboards and guitars are filled with raw emotion making it very easy to get lost in. I think it's a fair point to say that this is really the calling card of Beach House's music.
'Used to Be' is one of the stars of the record and is filled with classic piano and vocal melodies. Accompanying this couple, is a steadily building percussion section which pushes the song along nicely. With a beat that starts off as just a kick drum, 'Used to Be' patiently works in an entire snare brush kit transforming the song into more of an uptempo rhythm, which is something that certainly Beach House is not known for. But don't worry, they slow it back down for a beautiful and dramatic ending. The whole song seems to transverse the life of a balloon. Slowly the melodies and rhythm begin filling up space and expanding, yet never being too forceful or straining. Then for the majority of the song everything seems to be fully formed and working together in unison. The vocals play off the piano, while the snare and cymbal hits lift everything into the proper musical stratosphere. After this scenario has been exhausted, we slowly and peacefully fall back to the ground and finally come to rest as Victoria Legrand's voice more or less sings us to sleep.
The sixth track, 'Lover of Mine' is another somewhat 'newer' sounding Beach House song in that it's again slightly uptempo. Bright guitar riffs highlight and illuminate Legrand's vocals when necessary, brilliantly accenting her tone and pitch. This is another thing that is truly great about Beach House...there are very few acts that can play off each other as well as Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally. There are points where Legrand's vocals really seem like an extension of Scally's guitar. Then there are other times when it feels like the guitar or piano is singing in Legrand's voice. This constant matching, accenting and fusing of sounds and vocals transforms each of their songs into these dreamy homogenous pop creations.
'Teen Dream' is easy to get lost in. It's easy to press play, let it run, and soak it in. Throughout all of the haze and ambience, pop motifs continuously surface, evoking moods in the sincerest and rawest of forms. I do, however, think there is a large glaring hole in the record with 'Norway,' - it's that good. It's almost too good for the album. 'Teen Dream' is one of those albums that you can genuinely put on and not have to worry about skipping ahead, for the most part all ten tracks piece together nicely. If you walk into the room and hear this album playing, it's damn near impossible to figure out if someone just pressed play or if it's already eight songs deep. I'm still trying to figure out if this is good or bad. And ultimately that's what I really think detracts from this Beach House disc, but don't get me wrong...it's still amazing. But with the truly great albums, any one song can arguably be the best on the record. I can't make that case with 'Teen Dream.' So while this album is definitely one of the best of 2010, it's not the best. For the foreseeable future I'll always think of 'Teen Dream' as the Beach House record that has Norway on it.
Tracks
1.) Zebra
2.) Silver Soul
3.) Norway
4.) Walk in the Park
5.) Used to Be
6.) Lover of Mine
7.) Better Times
8.) 10 Mile Stereo
9.) Real Love
10.) Take Care
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