The Velveteen Tree Line

Beach House “Once Twice Melody”

It continues to be impressive how much Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally can do within the seemingly narrow aesthetic confines of Beach House. The general feel and core palette of their music has been essentially the same for eight records in a row, the variety and artistic growth is mainly in the textures, details, and tonal balances. It’s a bit like musical Fabergé eggs – the format and aesthetic is consistent but the ornamentation is unique every time. “Once Twice Melody,” the title track of their eighth record, is one of the more striking variations. It sounds like a pastoral English folk song blurred out by a dense fog of their familiar keyboard drones. The brighter keyboard tones seem to sparkle through it, lending the track a vaguely mystical aura. Lagrand’s vocal performance is as sedate as ever but her phrasing feels a bit stiff and formal, making her sound like some sort of prim but gentle authority figure as she sings lyrics that allude to mid 20th century erotic works Belle du Jour and Histoire de Melody Nelson. It’s not sexy, per se, but it does add a light lasciviousness to the music.

Buy it from Bandcamp.