Over the past few years, I’ve written quite a bit about the Baltimore-based indie rock act Beach House. And as you may recall, the duo, which is comprised of founding and primary members Victoria Legrand (organ, vocals) and Alex Scally (guitar, vocals) have released a number of critically and commercially successful, including 2015’s Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars, which were written and recorded within a two-and-a-half year period between 2012-2014, and while they were individual efforts, they were meat to be viewed as companion pieces that build upon similar themes and an overall related sound centered around sparse and atmospheric arrangements of organ, guitar and Legrand’s ethereal vocals.
The Baltimore-based indie rock act’s seventh, full-length album 7 is slated for release next month through Sub Pop Records in North America, Bella Union Records in Europe and Mistletone Records in Australia and New Zealand, and the recording sessions found the band working with Spacemen 3‘s Sonic Boom (a.k.a. Peter Kember) as a producer — but not in the traditional sense, as he helped the band in their attempts to start anew by shedding conventions and ensuring that the album’s material would be fresh, alive and protected from the tendency of overproduction and perfectionism. Additionally, the album features Beach House’s most recent live drummer James Barone, who as Legrand and Scally say helped “keep rhythm at the center of a lot of these songs.”
“Throughout the process of recording 7, our goal was rebirth and rejuvenation. We wanted to rethink old methods and shed some self-imposed limitations. In the past, we often limited our writing to parts that we could perform live,” Legrand and Scally explain. “On 7, we decided to follow whatever came naturally. As a result, there are some songs with no guitar, and some without keyboard. There are songs with layers and production that we could never recreate live, and that is exciting to us. Basically, we let our creative moods, instead of instrumentation, dictate the album’s feel.
“In the past, the economics of recording have dictated that we write for a year, go to the studio, and record the entire record as quickly as possible. We have always hated this because by the time the recording happens, a certain excitement about older songs has often been lost. This time, we built a ‘home’ studio, and began all of the songs there. Whenever we had a group of 3-4 songs that we were excited about, we would go to a ‘proper’ recording studio and finish recording them there. This way, the amount of time between the original idea and the finished song was pretty short.”
As the act admits, the societal sense of instability, uncertainty and chaos was deeply influential. “Looking back, there is quite a bit of chaos happening in these songs, and a pervasive dark field that we had little control over. The discussions surrounding women’s issues were a constant source of inspiration and questioning. The energy, lyrics and moods of much of this record grew from ruminations on the roles, pressures and conditions that our society places on women, past and present.” They go on to say that in a general sense, “we are interested by the human mind’s (and nature’s) tendency to create forces equal and opposite to those present. Thematically, this record often deals with the beauty that arises in dealing with darkness; the empathy and love that grows from collective trauma; the place one reaches when they accept rather than deny.
Over the past few months, Beach House has released two three singles — “Lemon Glow,” a jangling and atmospheric track centered around Legrand’s ethereal vocals; “Dive,” one of the most expansive and ambitious tracks they’ve released, as it begins with a lengthy atmospheric section before quickly shifting into a buzzing power chord-based coda; and “Dark Spring,” a shoegazer-like single featuring woozy power chords, twinkling keys and a soaring hook. 7‘s latest single “Black Car” finds the duo pushing away from their known formula as hard as human possible, thanks to twinkling and arpeggiated keys, atmospheric synths, paired with Legrand’s vocals.
The members of Beach House will be embarking on a world tour to support the new effort and it’ll include two NYC area dates — August 22, 2018 at United Palace Theater and August 23, 2018 at Kings Theater. Check out the rest of the tour dates below.
Tour Dates
May 04 – Oxford, MS – The Lyric
May 05 – Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
May 07 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theatre
May 08 – El Paso, TX – Tricky Falls
May 11 – Mexico City, MX – Auditorio Blackberry (ALBUM RELEASE SHOW)
May 13 – Mayer, AZ – Form Arcosanti
Jun. 02 – Barcelona, ES – Primavera Sound
Jul. 26 – Philadelphia, PA – Tower Theatre
Jul. 27 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz
Jul. 28 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theatre
Jul. 30 – Dallas, TX – Bomb Factory
Jul. 31 – Austin, TX – ACL Live at the Moody Theatre
Aug. 02 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre
Aug. 03 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fairbanks Lawn at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Aug. 05 – San Diego, CA – The Observatory at North Park
Aug. 07 – Oakland, CA – Fox Theatre
Aug. 10 – Portland, OR – Keller Auditorium
Aug. 12 – Vancouver, BC – Orpheum Theatre
Aug. 14 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot
Aug. 15 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
Aug. 17 – St. Paul, MN – The Palace Theatre
Aug. 18 – Chicago, Il – Chicago Theatre
Aug. 19 – Detroit, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
Aug. 20 – Toronto, ON – Sony Centre
Aug. 22 – New York, NY – United Palace Theatre
Aug. 23 – Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre
Aug. 24 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
Aug. 25 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
Sep. 25 – Lisbon, Portugal – Coliseu dos Recreios
Sep. 26 – Porto, Portugal – Teatro sa da Bandeira
Sep. 30 – Lyon, France – Epicerie Moderne
Oct. 01 – Köln, DE – Gloria
Oct. 02 – Berlin, DE – Huxleys
Oct. 04 – Lund, SE – Mejeriet
Oct. 05 – Gothenburg, SE – Trädgar’n
Oct. 07 – Oslo, NO – Rockefeller Music Hall
Oct. 08 – Stockholm, SE- Münchenbryggeriet
Oct. 09 – Copenhagen, DK – Forum Black Box
Oct. 11 – Hamburg, DE – Kampnagel
Oct. 12 – Utrecht, NL – TivoliVredenburg
Oct. 13 – Brussels, BE – AB
Oct. 15 – Paris, FR – Olympia
Oct. 18 – London, UK – Troxy
Oct. 19 – Manchester, UK – Albert Hall
Oct. 20 – Dublin, IE – Vicar Street
