I don't think I would have considered myself a Beach House fan until about eight hours ago.
I first heard of Beach House when one of my taste twins recommended their first album to me. He described their sound as "exactly like their name". I didn't think the music was horrible but I thought his description was. I quickly forgot about them.
A good while after Devotion came out I tried giving them another chance. In the P4k review of Teen Dream, the author poses a good question from the perspective of Devotion, "Do I need another album from this band?" To take it a step further, when I listen to a few tracks off Devotion I instead think, "Do I really need another song from this band?" I understand the idea of locking into an aesthetic, but I don't find enough variation between their songs to keep me engaged. I think the song Turtle Island is great, and captures the beautiful, sad vibe of the album better than any other track. After about four songs through Devotion, I'm ready to listen to R. Kelly, and therefore
I can't call Devotion a "great" album.
I really didn't want to like Teen Dream on first listen. The first few songs sounded to me like a band that wanted to take it to the next level by emulating the anthem-like characteristics of their successful peers, such as Arcade Fire and Fleet Foxes. I'm glad I stuck with the album, because the real gems don't come until about halfway through.
The production is fun because the space in the songs sounds FULL, yet the arrangements are still absolutely minimal. This of course is nothing new about Beach House, but felt it should be stated. Thats all I have to say about the production.
The biggest improvements that I notice in Teen Dream are the gripping vocal melodies. I seriously spent all day listening to this album over and over, discovering different pleasure spots that I didn't immediately notice before. I liked the tone of the Beach House vocalist before, but this time around I really think they spent more time on song writing aspects. And it paid off. Used To Be, Lover Of Mine, and Real Love are all great, great GREAT songs that make listening to anything else a foolish idea.
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