SGR

I gotcha, it just made me laugh.

Lisnaholic

Thanks, TH. I know you're a busy man.

Yeah, it's like zero effort, zero connection to the music, zero info on the band , and therefore zero interest. I wonder who "designs" something like that, and who says, "Yes, this will generate interest in the album."

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

SGR

I'll post my review after Trollheart.

Per the artwork, I actually like it. I think it fits the sound and mood of the album quite well - dreamy, ethereal, somewhat detached and spacy. I definitely disagree that there's "zero connection to the music" in the artwork.

Lisnaholic

^ That's curious, SGR ! You know the album way better than I do, but if any image comes to my mind from a superficial listening, it'd be more like: -

__________________
"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Trollheart

Bloom - Beach House

I've listened to this twice and it just hasn't impressed me. I mean, I like it until it seems all of it is the same, then I just don't care. I kind of feel like I'm drowning in a bath of honey and sugar with the cutest teddy bear in the world shoving my head under and keeping it there. I'm suffocating. None of it sounds any different to me - I'm sure it is, but it all sounds the same - and the guy's voice just gets on my nerves after a while. Sorry I know it's a short and probably slightly brutal review, but I don't care for it, I won't remember it and I really don't want to hear it a third time.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

SGR

The guy's voice?

SGR

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

Janszoon

I think it's a great album cover. And I went to design school—so there, haters. It's interesting to me that some people perceive minimalism as somehow being low effort.

Anyway, I just got back from vacation yesterday but I'll have my review up soon.

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

SGR

That's what I like to hear.

Minimalism is great, especially when the aesthetic fits the music. Not sure what some people expect - should every album cover have as much detail and be as busy as Sgt Pepper's?

Lisnaholic

^ Good question! I suppose for years, I often liked having something for my eyes to do while I was listening to an album, so Sgt. Pepper's was kind of good in that sense, but yeah, it's a bit daft to expect every album cover to entertain you in that way.

Ouch! You have pinpointed what I must confess is my instinctive reaction to a minimalist album cover, even if I hadn't realised it!

^ She's wearing the album cover design! So that's quite neat, but my idea carries with it a subtle visual word-play on the band's name:

....Blooms, geddit?


Yep, that was similar to my feeling in many ways, TH, though you have expressed it more graphically, with the suffocating teddy bear.

Did you forget to allocate a number, which helps when I work out those average grades per album ? I've been putting down a "rather not rate this album" as a zero, which really pulls down its score. Perhaps instead I should just not count you in the tally for those albums, which of course gives the album a higher rating than it's really earning.

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953