- Beach House - Bloom (Sub Pop Records) Rating: 9 (out of 10)
Baltimore duo Beach House (Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand) have produced a perfect summer record with their fourth studio release Bloom.
Clocking in with an hour's worth of music, in an era when half that counts as an album and most artists concentrate on one or two tracks, is no mean feat.
Bloom's content is entirely original but its conceptual structure is a throwback to the days when releasing an album was an event.
And make no mistake Bloom is an event. Beach House have crafted a masterpiece of intense music that never lets up. Their material has been dubbed "dream pop" but that doesn't really do justice to what they've created with their latest disc.
Melodically they have Paul McCartney's ear for just the right way to construct a tune (check out "On the Scene" and "Other People") and structurally they can wind everything up in knots like My Bloody Valentine at their very best.
Beach House recorded the album at Sonic Ranch Studios on the Mexican border in Tornillo, Texas, with producer Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Blonde Redhead) who also worked with them on Teen Dream. The consistency pays off on Bloom with the team shifting everything into a higher, headier gear. Sublime, brilliant stuff.
NEW CD RELEASES
May 15
Beach House - Bloom; Best Coast - The Only Place; Garbage - Not Your Kind of People; Saint Etienne - Words and Music by Saint Etienne.
