Beach House returns to basics with Depression Cherry
Three years after the release of their last studio album, Beach House is back with Depression Cherry, an album that marks a return to the basic patterns of dream pop from their earliest records.
The Baltimore-based duo’s fifth album heightens the feel of an electric guitar, live drums, vintage keyboards and the alluring voice of Victoria Legrand.
Alex Scally and Legrand have defined the dream pop genre. Their music is introspective and emotionally complex. It is part of a lucid daydream in which the air is thicker. Colors are more vivid. Emotions are stronger. Nothing about Beach House’s early albums or performances indicated their music would be of great appeal. From one album to the next, their transitions have been subtle.
Ultimately, the duo will continue to be one of those low-key bands that keeps releasing albums of good quality while a dedicated fanbase comes and goes.
Beach House, though a great band, is not trying to be the biggest band in the world.
“We continue to let ourselves evolve while fully ignoring the commercial context while we exist,” the band said in a statement under the album’s page on the Sub Pop website.
In this context, Depression Cherry is the duo’s most abstract work. It is an ideal soundtrack for daydreaming. Their sound, though distinctive, is structured around a simple melody and a few instruments.
The tracks are less upbeat. Pre-choruses transform into choruses, which transform into bridges. They have stripped down the booming drums from their previous album, Bloom, and boosted the synth and gauzy keyboards. Scally’s guitar serves as a foil to Legrand’s voice that is as beautiful and warm as ever.
The first track, “Levitation,” opens with Legrand’s peaceful voice delivering nothing but tenderness and delicacy. “I go anywhere you want to / You should see there’s a place I want to take you,” she sings, with a promise of travel to an unknown destination.
There is, however, no promise of arrival – Legrand just wants to take her audience along for the ride. It is this effect of melancholia and comfort that Beach House has perfected.
“Levitation” is followed by the album’s lead single, “Sparks,” the biggest departure from the album. Scally’s vintage organ fills up the uncomfortable ambient noise and harsher guitar tones make this track almost an unrecognizable Beach House song.
Scally employs the same guitar fills on “Beyond Love,” which delivers some of his best lyrical work: “The first that I do before I get into your house / I’m gonna tear off all the petals from the rose that’s in your mouth.”
The strength of “Levitation” and “Sparks” makes the rest of the album upsetting. The remaining seven songs are intriguing at times, but an entire track does not stand out from the pack. The band, however, admits that with this album they did not intend to push their limits.
In fact, they are getting back to their comfort zone. The problem is that getting out of its comfort zone is exactly what has allowed Beach House to be an unlikely success story.
In the press release for Depression Cherry, the duo included a quote from philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer: “Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.”
In the context of the album, this quote can speak about the duo’s want to grow in a direction far from their natural tendencies, away from the spotlight. It emphasizes not only how different Depression Cherry is, but how noteworthy their previous albums are.
Depression Cherry is out Friday.