Beach House's "Bloom" is Music to Daydream to

Beach House  (the next great generation) 

Beach House is an impossibly gorgeous-sounding duo from Baltimore, whose new album Bloom is quite simply the sound of spring.

The fourth release by Balto native Alex Scally and French-born Victoria Legrand is blissed out music that fits in with the dream pop genre. The band's sound, a mixture of Scally's guitars and keyboards and Legrand's vocals and keys, readily evokes the post punk Cocteau Twins as well as the Beach Boys, while Legrand's phrasing occasionally recalls the softer, more psychedelic side of Siouxsie Sioux. 

Whatever their provenance, their impressive record collections have proved fertile foundation for the House's atmospheric, melodic songs that would indeed fit in perfectly wafting through the salt water air of a sultry summer afternoon on any number of holidaymaker towns like those found on Cape Cod. Legrand's casually authoritative contralto is mixed seamlessly into the blend of ringing high notes of Scally's guitar, subtle percussion, and wash of gorgeous, wave-like keyboard flourishes.

In addition to a rising critical profile is the fact of their previous album Teen Dream cracking the US Top 40 album charts and a UK Top 100 showing. Among the new album's numerous memorable tracks are "Troublemaker" and "New Year" which both showcase the band's signature blend of understated vocals and almost more-felt-than-heard keyboard waves that compel attention while simultaneously encouraging a bout of daydreaming. With their quietly insistent rhythms, the House also evoke the loveliness of Saint Etienne, a UK act that was sadly overlooked in the US.

The respect of noted fellow musicians is evidenced in the fact of Animal Collective selecting them to perform at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in 2011 and Portishead inviting them to perform at ATP's  I'll Be Your Mirror fest later that year in London. Clearly, Beach House is on the upswing, and Bloom is nothing so much as the sound of a band on the precipice of expanding to a wider audience. I have heard little thus far this year that I want to listen to more than Bloom.