Stream Beach House’s New Album 7
In our recent interview with Beach House, Victoria Legrand described the Baltimore duo’s seventh album as having “bigger canvases, a stronger solid line.” She was talking about the record in the context of a mile marker in the band’s career, how with each release they’ve gotten more sure of themselves. It’s an antithetical point of view to how music is typically marketed — the debut burns bright and everything feels downhill from that initial creative spark — but for truly great musicians, it’s often the case that their most developed, intricate work comes later in life. Beach House are certainly in that wheelhouse, and their confidence has calcified with time. Through seven albums and nearly 14 years together as a band, they’ve learned to channel their inner muse and minimize outside noise. Or, as Legrand puts, it: “It’s like when you see 75-year-old people, they’re killing it because their give-a-fuck is busted.”
On 7, Beach House sound rejuvenated. They’re having more fun than ever before, as evidenced by the album’s advance singles, all of which are characterized either by deft new textures for the group (“Lemon Glow,” “Black Car“) or show-stopping moments that tower above similar iterations of the same idea in past songs (“Dive,” “Dark Spring“). And they’re experimenting in both structure and sound — take note of the curious placement of “Pay No Mind” in the track list and their use of scratchy acoustic guitar throughout. 7 feels more tactile than a lot of Beach House music, less ethereal and more grounded, a development that started with 2015’s double whammy of Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars.
Today, their seventh album is out in the world. Read our Premature Evaluation review of it and check out our interview with them and, of course, listen to the album in full below.
7 is out now via Sub Pop.