Album Review: Beach House - Bloom

Over the two years of touring 2010's Teen Dream, Baltimore duo Beach House have slowly gathered new material on the road and during sound checks to piece it together and head into a Texan studio last year. Following the success of Teen Dream, the band's fourth album Bloom is best experienced as a whole album. It most certainly has proven to add a new dimension to the band's use of subtle layers and melodies, this time adding a bigger sound to their dream-pop with arching synths and a hint more reverb.

But the distinctive nature of Beach House is still all there, the lead guitar picking of Alex Scully working its way in and out of Victoria Legrand's sometimes melancholic, sometimes uplifting melodies. Opener Myth sets the tone, with the high-pitched keys of Lazuli soon following, and like most tracks ushers a slow burn. Yet always there are a few pauses and kicks somewhere to keep them going strong as the majority border on or spill over the five-minute mark. Other People stands out with its longer intro falling into lush pop tune, whilst closer Irene gives the band's version of a 'break down' with keys, drums and bass building up as Legrand repeats a final outro.

Bloom is perhaps the band's most fleshed out and fully realised work with producer Chris Coady, who worked on Beach House's previous album, tying all the songs together nicely. However, given that the track listing and the flow between each song is so smooth, it leads to some tracks blurring into one another and losing their impact.