I was initially solely attracted to Beach House by the lovely cover of their eponymous album. You may recall that I love mixing my costume jewelry–particularly fake pearls and gold–and just look at that font! But as we all know, good cover art doesn't necessarily make for a good album or else every Yes album (after the Yes Album, of course) would be the greatest thing ever. Beach House, however, lived up to its image.
What a pretty, pretty album. It's dreamy and quiet but not without its catchy bits and a full, lush sound–which is quite a feat considering the band consists of only two people: Alex Scally on guitar and keyboards, and Victoria Legrand on vocals and organ.
Out of Baltimore (one of their videos is directed by fellow Baltimorian Skizz Cyzyk, the founder of the now defunct MicroCineFest film festival where, I might add, my senior film played in 2000) the duo are one of the indie world's newest “dream pop” artists, a seemingly apt category name for such calming and transportative music, but after reading about the genre, I feel they're a bit more melodic than atmospheric and sound-scapey–which is all right by me. A definite album for day long repeat, particularly if you need to hear something relaxing and smiley, as every song is as soothing as the last.
Their sequined website should have tour updates (though none are planned for right now) and you can watch some videos there too.
*In a sad case of too little information too late, I just found out they played here Friday night 🙁
But what do you think?