Beach House - "Teen Dream"

I happened to catch Beach House at the Pabst Theater a few years ago opening for Grizzly Bear...or maybe it was Califone? I don't exactly remember, and it doesn't really matter because I wasn't really impressed (with Beach House that is; Grizzly Bear or Califone were awesome). I just wasn't that into the whole dreamy, shoe-gaze pop deal that was emanating from the man/woman duo onstage, and spent the majority of their opening set shuttling back and forth between the theater and the lobby, loading up on PBR for the set of music I was actually there to see. Beach House was a prime example of the opening set that you don't know is coming, don't want to hear, and can't wait to get over with. I don't remember a thing from their set, other than a lot of recorded loops and vocal swooning.

Flash forward a few years: I still don't like the whole dreamy, shoe-gaze pop scene, and Beach House has released a new record (their 3rd) that is lining the "best new releases" shelves in record stores, garnering good reviews world wide web-wide, and pushing themselves into the collective conscious of American pop music. Sure, why not give it a try? I shunned them once, and I can always shun them again. Besides,that "Norway" song they started playing on 88.9 sounded tolerable and not too shoe-gazey.

Turns out, there is still a lot of swooning, recorded loops, and drum machines, but I'll give them credit for making an album that is completely relaxing and inviting. A "reading album," as I like to call them, one that is peppered with a few good songs to kick back to while you're doing something else: "Real Love"--a terrible title--is a great piano ballad; that chord change on the word "arching" during "Zebra" makes the whole song we worth repeated listens; "Silver Soul" swells back and forth in a just-right, pleasant sort of way. That said, there is probably not much lasting power here; I'll probably forget about Teen Dream just like I forgot who Beach House opened for at the Pabst. But at least we made amends in between. Sorry, Beach House.