REVIEW: Beach House – “Bloom”


[May 15th 2012 – Sub Pop Records // Find it at: iTunes | Insound]

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From “Saltwater” to “Irene”, the Baltimore duo have been able to encapsulate feelings and sounds and let them reign free across visual landscapes that by the time they’re finished reverberating, they become personalized. Bloom is Beach House sketching out their tendency to create emotions. It’s not a progressive jump nor an experimental lash at thinking outside of the box and forgetting it all together; it’s a continuation in their visceral stripping of pop that uses the unexpected to extend a hand to hold, a shoulder to make comfort in or a pair of lips to escape with. “New Year” paintbrushes a longing for a change, “Wild” flutters with the bittersweet taste we get from someone new and “The Hours”, much like Bloom in its entirety, warily tip-toes before exploding with sentiment. For 50 minutes, their timing nearly mirrors perfection. Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand have always weaved compositions – with sharp guitars infiltrating a dreamy voice that melts into a wash of synth – but here they act as a freight train headed straight for the heart. The songs may not stop it at any given time, but they make it flutter as when Legrand sings “It’s a strange paradise” and a track like “Wishes” slowly builds with help from gorgeous bass lines and erupts with a cathartic riff, you succumb to your thoughts. The memories ache, spin around ecstasy and draw a path to escape all the while Beach House’s secondhand instrumentals echo with the right amount of bliss. When the songwriting wraps its arms around you, it’s hard to find a place you’d rather be.

Download: “Wishes”, “The Hours”, “Irene”

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