Devotion
Sigur Ros, Red House Painters, Cat Powers, and Low, for example, have all built musical careers by slowly unwinding and unveiling the beauty of a song as if tomorrow may never come. Baltimore’s Beach House, a duo comprised of musician Alex Scally and vocalist/organist Victoria Legrand (niece of French composer Michel Legrand), take the same approach, infusing their languid compositions with churchly organ notes, glassy synthesizers, and echoing percussion and vocals (Legrand is classically trained), creating a sound that is stately, grand, and a bit haunting. Waltzing wraiths float through much of *Devotion*, the second album by the duo, and one gets the feeling there are many skeletons rattling around in the album’s lyrics. The band has mentioned influences such as Big Star/Chris Bell, Brian Wilson, and the Zombies in interviews, and careful listening reveals the spirits of those vintage influences here. They also cover indie demi-god Daniel Johnston, on the fragile and lovely “Some Things Last a Long Time.” Songs like “You Came to Me” and “Heart of Chambers” are utterly entrancing, and Legrand’s voice becomes another spellbinding, hypnotic instrument on tracks like “Gila” and “Holy Dances.” Magical.
Beach House's songwriting hasn't fundamentally changed on their second record; they've simply cleaned up their sound, resulting in crisper, brighter, bolder songs that retain the Baltimore dream-pop duo's melodic sense and vibe of elegant decay.
The album includes all of the ingredients as its predecessor, but a ratcheting-up of intensity makes this album shine brighter.
Images of sun, surf, and sand are indelibly etched into America's collective psyche.