Back to the Beach

I’ve been traveling for the past two weeks. Part of that time was spent in a beach house. By that I mean a real house near the beach but also with the new Beach House EP, Once Twice Melody. If this EP is a harbinger of the next Beach House album, then I am happy beyond belief.

I’ve never hidden my fondness for Dream Pop. When I was still producing my podcast, I dedicated an entire episode on modern variant and it’s connections to 80s and 90s dream pop (https://open.spotify.com/episode/1OwP3qyh3mv9IJSj68dRhW?si=047b7c0c27604d56). Dream pop, at it’s best, is somehow both soothing and intense. It’s the slow beats plus the ethereal vocals that make it the slow sex of popular music.

The newest Beach House EP has four songs, the title track “Once Twice Melody”, “Superstar”, “Pink Funeral”, and “Through Me”. All are quiet, dreamy, songs in the 90s dream pop mold. The vocals, especially on “Once Twice Melody”, are exceptional, as the voices of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, blend together into a single sound. These songs have so much texture that you can almost feel them physically. All along the way are these little synth pieces that add additional layers to the songs, over and above voices and beats. It’s as if Beach House figured out the perfect way to fuse dream pop and new age music together.

These are some of the best songs that Beach House ever made. Slow and chill but never dreary or depressing. It was a pleasure to come back from the beach house to encounter new Beach House. Once Twice Melody is simply the best that dream pop has to offer. I can’t wait for a whole album.

When I did the podcast, I put together a Spotify playlist of music that went along with it. You can check it out here https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5LcKoHl3JsOilieLXxTdg8?si=5d110726832c46ec.