07 10

Beach House 7 Matador Records

11.05.18

Beach House are remarkably consistent. Since the Baltimore duo, comprised of vocalist and keyboardist Victoria Legrand and guitarist Alex Scally, started releasing music in 2006, they have exuded the same dull glow from the beginning; their back catalogue of woozy dream pop always finds a way to take up whichever space it inhabits: Bloom was guitar heavy, melody-driven, and demanding to be heard, but always on their terms; Depression Cherry took a more morose turn, with the focus on the atmosphere the songs created, rather than the one it already lived in. is their seventh full-length record, and it consciously strips away the distractions and brings the focus back to the instrumentation.

While the record is mostly hookless, gaseous in form, it doesn’t disarm them. The main takeaway is a feeling of rose-tinted catharsis, and whether or not it’s shared with the listener, a point remains, more obvious than ever: Beach House refuse to compromise their agency over their sound. With 7, Beach House continue to prove that if you say something quietly enough, people will lean in