Beach House’s 7: A Lucky Number
Beach House, a duo out of Baltimore, Maryland consisting of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, are a staple of indie music and culture. With their lo-fi, grimey production in conjunction with smooth, carefully crafted guitar and keyboard melodies, their sound is simultaneously clean and dirty, smooth and rocky, all at once. Their seventh album, aptly named 7, shows Beach House at their prime: the intersection of alternative, indie, and dream pop.
The album lulls the listener in with a long ringing guitar and sultry blend of Legrand and Scally’s vocals on “Dark Spring.” The song grabs your hand, places you in the shotgun seat of a beaten up pick up truck, slams the door, and drives you through the night. Street lamps and starry skies characterize the slow burn of 7. “Pay No Mind” and “Lemon Glow” both drip with Arctic Monkeys energy and are almost begging for Alex Turner to make an appearance. However, the guitars layer with delicate piano melodies to create a uniquely Beach House sound, missing the clean cut, bass heavy noise of other indie artists. The journey only begins there, continuing through the back end of the album until its definitive conclusion on “Girl of the Year.”
Halfway through 7,“L’inconnue” showcases Legrand’s roots, with the singer making her French debut on the track. She softly croons over a haunting beat, ripe with simple guitars and bass and stray piano notes as whistles chime in. The sultry “Drunk in LA” could find a home on the soundtrack of any A24 movie with somber lyrics like “I am loving losing life,” whereas the melancholy “Lose Your Smile” scores like an anthem to end credits. The power ballads “Woo” and “Girl of the Year” flow together as a musical ride through space, alive with electronic noise, long bass notes, and the distinctive Beach House static.
7, above all, is a carefully crafted sonic journey from the minds of Legrand and Scully. In true Beach House nature, the album blends a variety of noises without losing its core sound. The duo shine together and apart, creating the magic of 7. Each song’s seamless flow to the next, warps the album into one massive, emotional track, but it works. Where others may stray towards monotony, Beach House lives in consistency. With a discography of now 77 tracks, and 7’s position as Beach House’s seventh album, the duo has proved that seven truly is a lucky number.
