It’s Record Store Day on the 21st, and is there anything more appropriate for it than a Beach House single release?

 

Like enjoying music on vinyl, there’s something inherently nostalgic about listening to Beach House. It’s nothing to do with them playing when my dog died, or being on a TV show I liked, and they don’t really remind me of any given time – so why should listening to them make me reminisce? It’s the sweet-haze they create, and a sentiment birthed long before their formation in 2004. 

 

Within a minute of the brand-new single Lazuli, you can‘t help but feel equally wistful: melodic insinuation like the free-thinking-fingers of The Zombies, a breathy vocal sprouting solemn lyrics like Nico, and with a trashy drum-machine similar to a Lennon bedroom demo, the heart grows fonder. There’s nothing satirical about my comparisons; Beach House have enough substance to use these features as more of a platform than a definition, and that’s exactly what they’ve done. 

 

Beach House have, as oppose to relying on massive instrumental and melodic changes to keep the listener interested, insisted on crafting and creating a textural masterpiece in this new single. A purposeful direction to the track creates a confusion of interests; you’re so accustomed to the pace of it that as it gathers momentum you can’t help but feel taken-a-back by the progression. In no way do I find this ostracizing but I’ll be very interested to see whether they keep up this approach on the rest of the forthcoming album or we’ll hear more typically sporadic songs like Zebra.

 

Bloom is released on May 15th 2012 through Sub Pop Records and is the follow-up to 2010’s Teen Dream.