devotion (beach house)
Beach House cultivates this perfectly dreamy, hazy aura. This music sounds like it comes from some distant American island, from a beach bathed in blue light. After several tries, that’s the best way I can think to describe it. Hauntingly beautiful vocals, relaxed guitars. It’s a great, chill album- great for ambient listening.
Like many works I’ve reviewed lately, this album makes its name not on versatility but the mastery of a tone- a haunting but sweetly relaxed, tropical tone. My three favorite tracks are the opening tracks. “Wedding Bell” captures this lovely, leisurely vibe. A slow, quietly charming vacation of the past. “You Came to Me” is dark, sophisticated and mysterious, with some really fine curves on the guitar. “Gila” quickly grew into my favorite. A low, haunting song with a chill, lovely refrain.
The rest of the album is slightly less memorable but generally carries the nice, cool tone. “All the Years” has this wonderful cascading hook, and I can absolutely picture it emerging as a new favorite after some more listens. “Some Things Last a Long Time” carries the mystery and energy of rainy twilight. And “D.A.R.L.I.N.G.” is not one of my particular favorites, but it’s noteworthy as the most clearly Beach Boys-esque work on the album. This band definitely owes some debts, in tone and instrumentation, to the Beach Boys’ later, moodier work. In many ways this album is closer than Pet Sounds to what I wanted Pet Sounds to be.
Great stuff.
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