Slope writer Nicole Fitzsimmons reviews Beach House’s latest album, Bloom.
As we swayed to “Lazuli” among the sunburned masses drowning in an August rain, I thought: “This is it.” That simple phrase we long to hear. That secret hope we store away. That unspoken melancholy we hide under our bed. This is Beach House, the soundtrack of the inexpressible moments that keep up us going.
The electronic pop duo continues to Bloom in its latest, aptly named album. Despite skepticism, this new release certainly holds its own to Teen Dream, Beach House’s previous record and winner of Pitchfork’s 2010 Album of the Year.
While guitarist Alex Scally readily divulges, “I hate it when bands change between records,” Beach House’s sound has indeed transformed, but only slightly. The duo maintains their characteristically wistful lyrics, but now sung beneath sunnier music. For instance, one song off the first album, “House on a Hill,” paired a dreary buoy bell with the strained heartstrings of minor chords. Now take “Myth,” the Bloom debut single, utilizing a similar buoy bell, only now a hopeful piano riff resonates.
Besides “Myth,” other Bloom highlights include “Wild” for its driving rhythm and “Other People” for Legrand’s ethereal voice. These songs frequently evoke abstract imagery to reinforce bittersweet sentiments. My favorite off the album was undoubtedly “On the Sea,” posing the daunting, rhetorical question: “shadows bend and the world swallows me in… wouldn’t you like to know how far you’ve got left to go.”
Once again, Beach House has won my heart with haunting vocals and hazy compositions. Bloom captures all the words we never knew how to say, set to lingering melodies that fill the recesses of our minds.
