Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally--better known to bright-eyed, bushy-tailed vicenarians as Baltimore's premiere sigh-pop duo, Beach House--haven't much tinkered with their dreamy, lazy afternoon keyboard sound in the five-plus years since their self-titled debut. Helmed once again by Teen Dream producer Chris Coady, their new album Bloom (out May 15 via Sub Pop Records) is their mostly singularly focused effort to date... to a fault. Lacking both the subtle dynamic shifts and "don't even bother trying to get them out of your head" melodies of their previous full-length, Bloom feels instead like a long and hazy whole—a continuous surge of breezy keyboards, gently propulsive lo-fi beats and reverb-drenched electric guitar leads. Sound familiar?
"It's never as it seems," forewarns Miss Legrand halfway through lead single "Mythh", a high energy lullaby decked out with shimmering guitar chords and faux-orchestral keyboard surges. "Drifting in and out, you see the road you're on..." The record itself seems to drift in and out, segueing without much aesthetic interruption from one shade of wistful melancholy to the next—there's the mid-'80s Cocteau Twins swirl of "Wild", the too-Enya-for-its-own-good "Lazuli" (hear those wordless "huh huh huh" chants?) and the winter-meets-summer sadness of "Other People"... all seamlessly gorgeous, all fairly indistinguishable from one another.
The duo peppers Bloom's second half with a few stylistic divergences—most notably with "On The Sea", where Miss Legrand eschews her Casio in favor of a rustic upright piano—but by and large, the album plays it a bit too safe, rummaging comfortably through the same two or three moods and sounds throughout. Sure, the guitars on "Troublemaker" sound just like The Cure's Disintegration, and sure, the album's majestic closer "Irene" reaches an almost post-rocking sonic peak... but play these songs on shuffle and you'll hear almost exactly the same album. One supposes that was probably the intent.
No, there's no "Walk In The Park" here, but if you want to feel sad, romantic, pensive and hopeful all at once... for an hour straight... then Bloom is the Beach House record for you. It's an engaging listen while it's on, but like the foggiest of dreams, you won't remember much once it's over. Sometimes that's not such a bad thing.
SumOlogy: Download the first half and just play it twice.
Grade: B
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