Product Description
Recorded in upstate New York, in a converted church called Dreamland with producer/engineer Chris Coady (who has worked with TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Blonde Redhead, and a bunch of others) Teen Dream is the third album from the Baltimore-based duo Beach House, and their Sub Pop debut. The new album gives voice to a full universe of unbridled imagination, and the manifestation of Teen Dream has been a welcomed and all-consuming obsession for Beach House the … More >>
I like dreamy pop. I’m 56 years old and I liked the Beach boys as a kid in 1962.This was before the Beatles. I liked them and the Four Seasons. “Don’t Worry Baby” was my idea of pop perfection. So I am a fan of unapologetic pop music.
The Beach House’s Teen Dreams makes me feel good. Sort of reminds me of Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket, High Llamas.
The DVD is not up to par with the music. It’s actually detracting. And I don’t like the recurring motif taken from the hackneyed Temptations’ riff from the beginning of “My Girl”
All the same, Teen Dreams is still close to perfection.
I am thrilled that I found the review on Pitchfork and that I decided to take a chance on the CD. It’s beautiful music and I will be sharing it with friends and family.
Rating: 5 / 5
Beach House have been working quietly and steadily since their 2006 debut, amassing fans, styles, and sounds along the way. Teen Dream is the most fully realized album by Beach House to date, filled to the brim with their signature lush melodies and dreamy ambiance. This album pushes into decidedly shoegazey territory, bringing to mind the masterful works of the Cocteau Twins. But Beach House are no style thieves, and Teen Dream sounds like a unique work, heavily inspired by history’s great dream pop acts without being a copycat. The songs are lilting and beautiful, and easily the most compelling compositions to date for the band. Songs like “Zebra” and “Silver Soul” are powerhouses, pushing the band into new and daring territory without sacrificing a thing that has made them so successful within their sphere. This is a must-have album for dream pop fans. Expect plenty of critical praise.
Rating: 5 / 5
For many it was only a matter of time until Beach House delivered big time and sought world domination. For this punter alternatively (with the exception of a couple of songs such as “Apple Orchard” on their debut and “Holy Dances” and “Gila” on their second LP “Devotion”) a sense of deep indifference has been the predominant feeling about this band. Indeed if truth be told they seemed like a bunch of Mazzy Star sound-alike’s with “Fade into you” the overused template. What a mad fool I have been, “Teen Dream” is an outright stunner and propels them into the major leagues.
The anticipation around this album across American music blogs has been huge largely as a consequence of widespread leaks of the album. The result is that it is already being hyped up as this year’s Animal Collective equivalent e.g. an album released in the first month of the New Year which will dominate 2010′s musical landscape. In the first place a comparison between “Teen Dream” and “Merriweather” makes little sense since they are chalk and cheese in terms of musical styles. But more than this they are unhelpful since they burden “Teen Dream” with a comparison which it does not need and a weight of expectation that this fragile beauty should not be required to carry. After all it is the quality of the music that counts.
Beach House is a duo from Baltimore comprising Victoria Legrand (yes she is related to the French composer Michel) and Alex Scally. “Teen dream” is on the Bella Union label and Sub pop in the US and recorded in a church in upstate New York and you can tell. This is an album of real grace and power. The songs are characterised by an ethereal dreamy pop sensibility and Legrand’s voice has echoes of Nico, Marianne Faithful, Patti Smith and of course Hope Sandoval. It gives a slightly hard, sultry and sometimes raspy edge to Beach House’s sweet melodies and Scally’s wonderful backing instrumentation.
The album starts brilliantly with the sublime “Zebra” which sets the tone for the rest of the album with its slow guitar lines that build and burn into a classic pop anthem. It is gorgeous stuff as is “Silver Soul” which follows it. And then there is “Norway” the single which has been readily available for months. In this reviewers humble opinion it is one of the greatest pop songs of this century thus far. Legrand’s vocal is as smokey as a fine Cuban cigar and contrasts with the breathless backing vocals. This mix is combined with a weird and slightly distorted electronic backing but which works in spades. It is bloody perfect and if you don’t get the album at least download this. The slow processional pop of “Walk in the Park” which follows “Norway” is remarkably its equal and provides no let up. These first four songs are by far the strongest opening quartet to an album which I have heard in many years.
“Used to be” has shades of the wonderful innocence found on Mercury Rev’s “Deserters Songs” album and for some reason “Lover of Mine” reminds me of “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” with a slight Japanese feel. “10 mile stereo” is easily the best vocal performance by Legrand on the whole album. The only qualms I have come in the shape of “Real Love” and “Take care” which are the tracks at the moment that I can’t get too worked up about. “Take Care” has one of those constant repeat vocals that go on beyond the point of irritation.
Small caveats for what is a towering performance. “Teen Dream” is a lush and magisterial album that you would be fool not to let it into your life. They support Grizzly Bear in the forthcoming spring UK tour and that will be some concert. 2010 is starting well “Teen Dream” shifts it up a gear.
Rating: 5 / 5
As a lover of all kinds of music, I sample a lot of stuff. Over the years (I’m 37) I’ve listened to a lot of artists that might get awkwardly categorized with Beach House. Velvet Underground, Belle and Sebastian, Sigur Ros, perhaps some shoegaze bands, or maybe even some female mid-seventies singer-songwriters are used in efforts to discribe this music. But nothing I can think of at the moment comes to mind when trying to express the beauty of album. Dreamy without being sleepy, emotional without being dramatic, impressive without being virtuoso, and somehow pop without being cheeze. I haven’t purchased anything in a long time that I wish to hear over and over as I find myself doing with Teen Dream. The DVD of videos (of each song on the album) that comes with the CD is very good as well. Beck did this same sort of thing a couple of years ago but the videos here are much more interesting as each one is made/directed by a different person and very well done. This is one to buy.
Rating: 5 / 5
Even I, a big supporter of indie labels like Sub Pop (they spawned Nirvana), had never heard of Beach House. But when I heard this album, I was blown away. Literally. I was thrown off my feet, I just loved this album. It’s just great. Great for everybody. Anybody. Just a great album. I love the singer’s voice. This is real talent here. This talent in the band isn’t gonna stop talentless puppets-to-record-companies like the Jonas Brothers, but Beach House stands the test of time.
Best songs on the album are “Zebra,” “Lover of Mine” and “10 Mile Stereo.”
Cool album.
Rating: 5 / 5