“i love pop music, and i guess the music that we make is admittedly ethereal in some way,” said alex. “it’s just the tones and the soundscapes we like.”

victoria, niece of french composer michel legrand, sings in a very soft nico-ish tone, while alex plays in a soothingly intimate style.  the band finds influence in brian wilson, neil young, the zombies and big star.  and even though they are not a couple, alex said their chemistry and intensity always forces the duo “to get the most out of a few instruments, even if it means spending saturated amounts of time together.”

beach house released their third lp, teen dream, on the mighty sub pop label on january 26, 2010.  both previous albums, the self-titled debut lp beach house and devotion landed on pitchfork’s best albums of the year in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

the album, recorded in an upstate new york church was produced by chris coady who has also produced for tv on the radio, yeah yeah yeahs, and grizzly bear.

since recording teen dream according to victoria, “we’re the same people, but this record has changed our directions.  we were forced to let go of people and things we were holding onto as individuals: normalcy, daily rituals, the ability to take care of ourselves.  we were dropped into a wilderness, but we had more clarity than we’ve ever had before.” 

click here to listen to teen dream in its entirety until february 22, 2010. click here for a march 10, 2008 interview and set recorded by wxpn for world café.  click here for a 2006 set recorded by npr.  click here and here for interviews and sets recorded by kcrw for morning becomes eclectic from november 15, 2005 and april 17, 2003 respectively.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check here to see if beach house have any gigs scheduled near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.

beach house is like a breeze.

if you agree, please spread the word (about the band and this site).

jason

don't worry if you missed the metric profile from last week: here it is.

sub pop


sub pop