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NBHAP Rating: 3,8/5
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[one_half last=”yes”]BEACH HOUSE
Thank Your Lucky Stars’
Release-Date: 16.10.2015
Label: Sub Pop
Tracklist:
01. Majorette
02. She’s So Lovely
03. All Your Yeahs
04. One Thing
05. Common Girl
06. The Traveller
07. Elegy to the Void
08. Rough Song
09. Somewhere Tonight
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The missing second side
The good old-fashioned double album is always quite a difficult musical field. Far too often it tends to swamp the listener with too much material while struggling to maintain a certain level of quality over the course of its duration. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally managed to give the concept a different twist by just releasing the two sides of the latest BEACH HOUSE album separately; although they would refuse to label it that way. Thank Your Lucky Stars arrives only three months after Depression Cherry and following its surprise announcement last week you still have to wonder what it actually is about. The missing B-side? Rejections from the real album? The little twisted sibling of Depression Cherry? The answer is not a simple one but maybe a bit of everything.
Lower than lo-fi
By tearing down the partly pointless bombast of 2012’s Bloom this summer’s Depression Cherry saw BEACH HOUSE returning to the reduced beauty of their earlier work. Thank Your Lucky Stars continues that path and goes even further. Although Legrand and Scally stated that their 6th album differs the most from their previous discography it’s still pretty much BEACH HOUSE and their familiar recipe. Right from the moment Majorette opens the record you are right back at the point where the predecessor left us. Still, the Baltimore-based duo takes the aspect of reduction even further back to the lo-fi roots of its self-titled debut from 2006. All Your Yeahs is the perfect example as it features only the most essential ingredients of the BEACH HOUSE recipe: a smooth drum computer, gentle guitar, lush synthesizer patterns and Legrand’s voice which sounds as pure and basic as probably never before. It’s still pretty much her but way clearer and less loaded with overdubs than on previous albums.
The sweetest first world problem
The special role of Thank Your Lucky Stars gives BEACH HOUSE the opportunity to extended the familiar environment at least a bit. Especially a few progressive and odd guitar solos on tracks like One Thing and Elegy To The Void add a surprising element to the sound. This record is even more laid back than the previous one while also being not interested in providing proper pop song material this time. BEACH HOUSE prefer the floating spirit of their loop-based songwriting while the listener slowly but steady gets lost in the synthesizer-filled haze around Legrand’s unique voice. The Traveller and Rough Sound are perfect examples of that experience. Although this album provides solid quality from the beloved duo you feel a bit jaded in the end, especially because Depression Cherry already filled our BEACH HOUSE needs pretty much a few months ago. Let’s face it: the duo’s sound faces certain limitations quite quickly and two full albums within three months underline this truth more than they should. Thank Your Lucky Stars is a sweet afterglow of Depression Cherry and any complaints regarding its existence are washed away by its hypnotic vibes anyway, right?
Although you can question the necessity of its existence Thank Your Lucky Stars does nothing else than continue writing the dreamy legacy of BEACH HOUSE in the best possible way.
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