Teen Dream

There wasnt much room for Beach House to improve on Devotion, so they improved the room in which they made Teen Dream. Recorded in a converted church with producer/engineer Chris Coady -- who has also worked with TV on the Radio and Blonde Redhead -- Victoria Legrand and Alex Scallys Sub Pop debut echoes with a dark lushness thats more like a beach mansion than a mere house. The slightly squalid sound quality of Beach House and Devotion had a cloistered charm, as if the band had to record those albums not just on the cheap, but in secret. On Teen Dream, however, the hugeness previously implied in Legrands lyrics and luscious vocals is made real, like tuning in Beach House at their full frequency. The duos mix of retro electronics and chiming guitars is still as dreamlike and distinctive as ever; if anything, the tinny taps and hisses of their drum machine are even more present in Teen Dreams pristine settings, making the contrast between them and the molten slide guitars and rippling keyboards on Norway even more vivid. Beach Houses songwriting is also more focused, with Devotion highlights such as You Came to Me and Heart of Chambers serving as templates for the albums elegant longing. As Teen Dreams title implies, Scally and Legrand are wry and wise enough to know better about idealizing love, and romantic enough to still believe in it. Zebra positively swoons, while Walk in the Park, with its graceful coda and chorus lament In a matter of time/it will slip from my mind/In and out of my life/you would slip from my mind, makes losing sound beautiful, even if its anything but a walk in the park. Despite the wintry sorrow that dominates songs like Used to Be and Better Times, Beach House lets a little hope into the album with 10 Mile Stereo and Real Love. Beautiful and heartfelt, Teen Dream reaffirms that Legrand and Scally are among the best purveyors of languidly lovelorn songs since Mazzy Star. ~ Heather Phares

ドリーム・ポップを奏でる男女デュオが、サブ・ポップに移籍したこの新作で大躍進を遂げた。これまでのユルユルでアンニュイな音楽性を突き詰めながらメロディーを強化して、至高の夢世界を作り上げている。ほぼギターとオルガンから成る柔らかな音色に、艶かしく残響するヴォーカルを乗せたサウンドは、輝かしくも憂鬱だった〈10代の頃〉を呼び覚ます。初回盤には全曲分のPVを収録したDVD付き。
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