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SGR · 05-02-2023, 03:23 PM

Beach House - Bloom

Bloom came at a pivotal time in my life. I was discovering a lot of things and was also experimenting with a lot of the music I listened to. It was around this time that I decided I wanted to more closely follow contemporary music. So I started browsing music sites more often to see what was current. Luckily at one point, I caught wind of the new Beach House album being good. I had heard of Beach House before listening to this album, but I didn’t know what their music was like.

How to describe this record? Well I’ll name of some albums that give me the same vibe as this album; Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore, R.E.M.’s Up, Radiohead’s Amnesiac, and My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. This record and Beach House’s music in general creates an incredible atmosphere. It’s very dark and nighttime-ish but it isn’t an oppressive or depressive atmosphere. The sounds and soundscapes are dark but at the same time they are warm, inviting and ethereal. They embrace the listener as much as the listener embraces them. These songs comforted me and they made me reflect on things - past, present and future.

There are a lot of important topics discussed on the songs in this album and it all feels very personal, as if you were listening to the musical equivalent of a private diary. It talks about a woman who becomes pregnant by accident, seeing a friend slowly die, depression, and the dehumanizing effects of technology. This allows a broad enough lyrical spectrum for the listener to make their own connections and create their own personal reflections.

Victoria LeGrand’s vocals are absolutely wondrous! She is just always belting out beautiful melodies. That’s another thing; the vocal melodies. The melodies that they chose work with the instrumentals absolutely perfectly. I couldn’t imagine it being done any better. Beach House uses these vocal melodies to draw the listeners into their sad but conscious world. This group uses negative space wonderfully as well. They utilize the negative space to build tension, suspense, and to give the listener a sense of fulfillment as the song progresses in natural and interesting ways.

I absolutely adore this record. It’s just beautiful in every possible way. The only nitpick I can think of is that the final track has a hidden song at the end and I don’t really like when artists do that (I thought that trend died in the '90s) but that’s a personal nitpick. The atmosphere created and sustained throughout this record is hard to fathom unless you’ve heard albums similar to it. It’s just a beautiful album that wants to be there for you, it’s just a matter of letting it be there for you. I highly recommend you do.

9.5/10

05-02-2023, 03:23 PM	#777 (permalink)
SGR No Ice In My Bourbon Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: /dev/null Posts: 4,327	Beach House - Bloom Bloom came at a pivotal time in my life. I was discovering a lot of things and was also experimenting with a lot of the music I listened to. It was around this time that I decided I wanted to more closely follow contemporary music. So I started browsing music sites more often to see what was current. Luckily at one point, I caught wind of the new Beach House album being good. I had heard of Beach House before listening to this album, but I didn’t know what their music was like. How to describe this record? Well I’ll name of some albums that give me the same vibe as this album; Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore, R.E.M.’s Up, Radiohead’s Amnesiac, and My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless. This record and Beach House’s music in general creates an incredible atmosphere. It’s very dark and nighttime-ish but it isn’t an oppressive or depressive atmosphere. The sounds and soundscapes are dark but at the same time they are warm, inviting and ethereal. They embrace the listener as much as the listener embraces them. These songs comforted me and they made me reflect on things - past, present and future. There are a lot of important topics discussed on the songs in this album and it all feels very personal, as if you were listening to the musical equivalent of a private diary. It talks about a woman who becomes pregnant by accident, seeing a friend slowly die, depression, and the dehumanizing effects of technology. This allows a broad enough lyrical spectrum for the listener to make their own connections and create their own personal reflections. Victoria LeGrand’s vocals are absolutely wondrous! She is just always belting out beautiful melodies. That’s another thing; the vocal melodies. The melodies that they chose work with the instrumentals absolutely perfectly. I couldn’t imagine it being done any better. Beach House uses these vocal melodies to draw the listeners into their sad but conscious world. This group uses negative space wonderfully as well. They utilize the negative space to build tension, suspense, and to give the listener a sense of fulfillment as the song progresses in natural and interesting ways. I absolutely adore this record. It’s just beautiful in every possible way. The only nitpick I can think of is that the final track has a hidden song at the end and I don’t really like when artists do that (I thought that trend died in the '90s) but that’s a personal nitpick. The atmosphere created and sustained throughout this record is hard to fathom unless you’ve heard albums similar to it. It’s just a beautiful album that wants to be there for you, it’s just a matter of letting it be there for you. I highly recommend you do. 9.5/10