Beach House Becomes

Let me get right to it: I love Beach House. That’s a bias that I openly and freely admit. Outside of the Cocteau Twins, they are my favorite dream pop band and a balm for a stressful day. All that means is that it’s hard for me not to like what they do even if they are not stretching their creativity too much.

That said, their new EP Becomes is demonstratively wonderful. What makes this even more interesting is that the songs are actually outtakes from their Once Twice Melody recording sessions. Yes, it follows the traditional dream pop template of shimmering guitars and ethereal vocals. That’s nice in of itself but there are surprises. Two surprises stand out – “Holiday House” and “Black Magic”. The former is dream pop cloaked in new age. It sounds like a fruitful collaboration with Enya (something I’d love to hear). “Black Magic”, on the other hand is just so… Mazzy Star, but somehow not derivative.

At 24 and a half minutes, Become, is a quick listen but very much worthwhile. This is an EP to put on repeat when you’ve had a rotten day, as you sit down with a cocktail to de-stress.