Album Review: Beach House Reveal B-Sides & Rarities For Fans
Beach House’s B-Sides & Rarities is not an easy album to review because it is truly a kiss on the cheek to fans. Beach House has earned their following by showing music is mystical in origin. Hazing synths, lyrically hexing love’s cruelty, and casting vocals upon murky instrumentals has made Beach House a magical band. B-Sides & Rarities is their compilation of every track that did not fit into their previous album concepts, but deserved to be listen to by the world…. by fans.
I love Beach House. My readers know, I adore moody music because, in some ways, I am moody. (Side Note: Do Not Tell Anyone I love this omission!) Beach House, in essence, shows the writhing bitterness in all of us that bites Adam’s apple quicker than a snake’s charm. As their synths and keys fuzz and fickle like clouds in your eyes, listeners wraps themselves in songs such as, “Baby”, “Rain In Numbers”, and “Saturn Song”. Guaranteed: you will feel like you are drifting in the clear, streamed vocals of Victoria Legrand. This woman IS dream pop. She understands that, when you sing lyrics, you are actually giving listeners the building blocks to construct themselves. From “The Arrangement” to “White Moon”, she sings her notes like they are being packed upon each other for a makeshift stairwell to Heaven. “Norway”, “Used To Be”, and “Wherever You Go” DEMAND to be relished in serenity as light, chorded melodies float upon your head to show you that Alex Scally is the most gentile guitarist ever. He approaches the guitar like a Victorian gentleman asking to dance with it upon a celestial court. This aura is what gives B-Sides & Rarities a “twisty” sound, and shows that Beach House has charted a career off of sounding out of place.
The perks of being strange is that you will always be new. Be bold and be different are, practically, ancient commands to human beings’ desire to stand out and above a crowd, but Beach House have shown these commands can be enacted in quietness. Their album is gentle, calm, and almost whispered upon your ears with flowery arrangements; like a rose that has decided to tell you its story. Thus, for fans, B-Sides & Rarities is another cherished evidence that Beach House is amazing. Meanwhile, for potential, future fans, it is a symbol that if Beach House’s, technically, “scrap songs” are thoughtful and hypnotic; imagine what they kept. To Buy B-Sides & Rarities On June 30 & To Learn More About Beach House Click Here.
