Beach House aren’t a structure – they’re a duo. Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand, from Baltimore. And they’re being written about here because they’ve put together 11 delicate little compositions about love and devotion for a new album called Devotion. Let’s see if it’s any good or not . . .

Well, for starters, if you’re looking for something that is quick and easy to get into, and just as quick and easy to get out of again, (apart from being an idiot) you’re looking in the wrong place. Devotion’s success comes from its subtlety. The tempos, instrumentation, and tone of each and every track all come off as beguilingly alike initially, but as the album starts to barb you with its deeply layered hooks after repeated listens, you’ll begin to realize good music can be (for want of a better phrase) one dimensional. This is an album, after all, not a collection of random songs stuck together to see how they react with each other when left alone. 

Yes, Legrand’s vocals never really stray much beyond the comfort zone of a soulful whisper (Chan Marshall is a good reference point) and Scally’s organ and guitars remain reverbed, and languid, throughout, but the pair have faith enough in their sound to know it’s all they need. And that faith pays off. 

Opener, Wedding Bell, gives a good over-view of the music on offer on Devotion. The track floats above a thieved rhythm from Help Me, Rhonda by The Beach Boys (here, played on what sounds like harpsichord). Soft shakers dominate the percussion, with deep drums hiding at the back of the mix, whilst what sounds like a lap steel drifts in, out, above and below the gaps. I should clarify, this doesn’t mean to say that this - or any of the other tracks - sounds anything like The Beach Boys. Not at all; in fact they’re far more ethereal and soulful than that (Gila, for example is almost like some kind of strange church music, and there’s something rather religious in tone about the album as a whole, without being overtly so). It does mean to say, though, that whilst the duo comes from Baltimore, their sound certainly does not.

There’s a faraway, sedate, feel to the band’s playing that conjures up the Californian music scene of the 1960s and 1970s. Not drugged up exactly, but certainly a little hazy. It was evident on their first album, and it’s evident again here. The difference is they’ve refined it, and now there’s a warmth and body to the production which makes things seem more self-assured and sturdy.

Listening to the percussive backing of Turtle Island really demonstrates this progress perfectly. On the one hand the instruments are nothing out of the ordinary - hand claps, claves, tambourine, shakers, and drums – but, listening closely reveals how perpetually shifting the backing actually is. As is the rest of the track, in fact. A sign of the true quality of the composition is how at times (on different listens) these things either wash over you, or sometimes become crystal clear and jump out from the speakers into your ears. Which, of course, is vital for any music that wishes to offer any longevity to its listener. Equally, the band now better combine synthetic sounds into their music without it jarring with the rest of the tune, or seeming kitsch - most impressively on Heart of Chambers, where a drum machine beats out the tempo.     

Sadly, there’s a scarcity of talent right now with this level of conviction in what they’re doing - to the point where, when an act like this does come along, they run the risk of getting dismissed as ‘one-note’ by detractors. In Devotion’s case, that simply equates to a consistency of pace and mood (all-be-it a slow one). But then, in this world, you shouldn’t be relying on people who are incapable of maintaining attention for 45 minutes to be making your decisions for you. Should you? I’ve got an attention span of 57 minutes (when unimpeded by fatigue) - Trust me, instead.

Release date: 03/03/08
Website: www.beachhousemusic.net
Label: Bella Union

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