Thursday, August 28, 2008
music
Beach House: Devotion
Beach House are part of Baltimore's standard bearers out there in the national music scene, and Devotion (Carpark) is their latest charge on the field of soothing and serene, barely-there but solid melodies. Similar to the eponymous album so talked up last year, Devotion is a dish that requires a few complete rotations to sink in.
The duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally do not write songs so much as they write albums. Perhaps to Beach House's detriment, Devotion requires patience and introspection, because the casual music listener is challenged to make sense of the space between sounds on this layered complexity of a record. Even the active listener is perplexed to find how to make sense of "You Came To Me" and "D.A.R.L.I.N.G." which are so light and, to an ear hungry for more going on, missing something. But after the soul-searching and waking up to smell the ocean on this one, it starts to fall together.
Devotion requires exactly that. Songwriters dedicated to their craft need listeners who are dedicated to their craft. This probably isn't in the car, walking to work with the iPod on music. Rather, this is headphones in your room reading liner notes music (you do still buy CDs, don't you?). The subtle, inescapable hook of "Gila" is this album's pinnacle, though there is some focus on "You Came To Me", which has already been released in a video directed by Baltimore's Skizz Cyzyk (The Jennifers). After two spins, Legrand's gratifying voice becomes hypnotic and Devotion proves itself ten times over as a fine piece of craftsmanship.
A cover of Daniel Johnston's "Some Things Last A Long Time" separates itself from the fabric of this well-engineered album (the pair claim Johnston as an influence) before woozily transitioning into "Astronaut". Bring on the tar and feathers, but Victoria Legrand at her boldest is much akin to Celebration's Katrina Ford. The similarity is fleeting, as Scally and Legrand break their music out of claustrophobic confines and prepares Beach House for bigger and better things.
Need to experience this for yourself? Pick up the album (out February 26) by clicking the artwork above, and check out a tour date:
02/28 Baltimore, MD Gspot
02/29 Chapel Hill, NC Local 506
03/01 Atlanta, GA The Earl
03/02 Birmingham, AL BottleTree Cafe
03/03 Memphis, TN The Hi Tone Cafe
03/05 Baton Rouge, LA Spanish Moon
03/06 Houston, TX Walter’s on Washington
03/07 Austin, TX Emo’s
03/08 Denton, TX Hailey’s
03/10 Tucson, AZ Solar Culture
03/11 Phoenix, AZ Modified
03/12 San Diego, CA The Casbah
03/13 Los Angeles, CA The Echo
03/14 San Luis Obispo, CA Steynberg Gallery
03/15 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
03/17 Portland, OR Holocene
03/18 Seattle, WA Chop Suey
03/19 Vancouver, BC Media Club
03/21 Salt Lake City, UT Kilby Court
03/22 Denver, CO Hi-Dive
03/24 Omaha, NE The Slowdown
03/25 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry
03/26 Chicago, IL Schubas
03/27 Cleveland, OH The Grog Shop
03/28 Toronto, ON El Mocambo
03/29 Montreal, PQ Casa del Popolo
03/30 Winooski, VT The Monkey House
03/31 Cambridge, MA The Middle East
04/02 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
04/03 Philadelphia, PA The Barbery
04/04 Washington, DC Rock and Roll Hotel
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