I don’t know anything about musical critique. I think I’m a musician but I really just listen to music and am like:
Hmm this sounds cool, I like it.
This simplistic point of view on music probably stems from my lack of knowledge of music theory and whatnot, but that’s okay because I feel like I can look at things in-depth no matter what it is to a certain proficient degree, so that’s what I’m going to try and do here.
I guess? Let me know if I sound dumb or not.
So Beach House, what do I know about them? Let's see.
It’s a duo.
They’re from Baltimore.
They’re platonic besties, or are they brother and sister? Wait let me look this up.
…
Platonic besties, we love that.
No, I make it sound like I haven’t listened to them before, but I have previously heard Depression Cherry, Teen Dream, and Bloom. They’re ethereal, they’re dreamy, and I enjoy their music quite a bit; never have I ever heard a bad Beach House song, and that continues on this album.
To list a couple fears that I have…
Spiders.
Condiment water, you know like when you flip the bottle upside down and the ketchup or whatever doesn’t come out but the sauce water does.
Long albums.
I don’t know why, but if an album is longer than 45 minutes, It is physically hard for me to listen to it. This album is almost twice that long, yet here I am. I guess by listening to this long ass album I’m trying to reclaim long albums, and it honestly wasn’t so bad to sit through; although, surprise surprise, this was a little too long for my taste.
I get the four individual chapters thing, and I think that really works for this album (super interesting concept that they released this in four pieces over the course of a few weeks) but I definitely felt the length before the final chapter even starts. I would say though, I think either the very first chapter or the very last are my favorites as a whole.
The title track is very strong, and lets us in on what to expect for the rest of the album. There’s an assortment of strings, synths, drums, and other electronic doohickeys that I’m too plebeian to know the name of on the opener, and it’s all included in a way that’s concise and surprisingly not overbearing.
I swear to god I’m listening to a science-fiction movie soundtrack when some of these songs come on like the introduction to “Pink Funeral”, and an 80s new wave album when my personal favorite of the entire album “Masquerade” plays. It’s so cinematic, and paints a perfect picture in my head of what’s being said.
“Her eyes masquerade, fade to black
They’ll come at night, to take her back”
There’s this underlying melody in the third verse that’s so eerie and dark, and you can just barely hear it, but it makes the entire song for me. Or the way there’s this charged up outro where all the instrumental variations are cranked up to eleven as Victoria Legrand sings, here tonight then gone forever.
I really don’t have any gripes with this album other than the fact that some of the songs didn’t particularly grab my attention and quite literally went in one ear and out the other.
Also very excited for the next album I listen to not being literally an hour-and-a-half, sorry not sorry.
As an entire album, everything feels very cohesive. I haven’t discerned any particular themes in any of the chapters, but I’m sure they’re there (wow I’m such a professional music critic, can’t you tell?) I can’t imagine making a project this dense in it’s instrumentation while still making it seem like a functioning project, but I suppose that’s part of the glory of Beach House just being composed of two people.
Wow, I’m a regular Anthony Fantano.
7/10
Personal Favorites:
Superstar
Pink Funeral
New Romance
Masquerade
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