Beach House
Depression Cherry
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary to anoint one musical act with the title "Consistently Killing It," one must apparently turn to the often Huxley-esque dystopia that is the city of Baltimore for nominees. Beach House has a defined, limited sound, that can easily pigeonhole or utterly destroy a band's reputation, but which they have used to create vast soundscapes of hazy, keyboard-fueled glory.
When the single "Sparks" was first debuted, I was more than a little concerned that my hometown indie-heroes had gone rogue, a loud, reptetitive guitar sample invades an otherwise standard, foggy Beach House performance. It seemed out of place and more like they were trying to force themselves into a more pop-oriented sound. The truth is, no one song on Depression Cherry can be heard without the context of its surroundings. "Sparks" makes perfect sense, and is obviously brilliant, when preceded by "Levitation" and followed by "Space Song."
While much of Depression Cherry is more aggressive and louder than any previous Beach House release, it's not entirely unrecognizable; the previously mentioned "Space Song" could very easily have been a Bloom single. But the the real revelation here is "PPP" (not to be confused with How to Destroy Angels' VERY different "BBB"), which is dominated by Victoria Legrand's sprechstimme and massive amounts of fuzz, which combine for a truly Phil-Spector-esque wall of sound. It's closeness to Bat For Lashes' "Good Love" and Deerhunter's "Vox Humana" (which itself pulls the drum from the Spector-helmed "Be My Baby") is not a detraction as much as it is proof of the duo's versatility and ability to make any songwriting style their own.
So yes, the award for "Consistently Killing It" goes to Beach House. Each album they create is one of extreme beauty marred by sad life experiences. Depression Cherry is as grand, gorgeous, and sweeping as anything they have pulled from the ether, and is, to quote Colin Joyce, "an album-length sigh as eloquent as a manifesto."
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