Baltimore duo Beach House (Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally) releases their sophomore effort today. Devotion features eleven well-crafted ambient and almost dark emotional pop songs rooted deep in folk sentiments.
A native of Baltimore, Alex began playing the piano in elementary school and picked up various other instruments throughout his high school years. Victoria, born in Paris and still fluent in French, also lived in Baltimore, Cecil County, Philadelphia and Paris again before landing back in Baltimore, where she and Alex were introduced by a mutual friend. At the age of 7, Victoria began classical training on the piano and started formal voice lessons at the age of 14. Four years later, she began writing her own songs rather than singing the words of others.
The talent and years of training for both Alex and Victoria shines through on Devotion, much as it did on their self-titled debut release in 2006. Folky influences and aspects of the record shine through on the first track, “Wedding Bells.” Victoria sings out, “Your wish is my command” in the opening track, proving just how aptly the disc is titled. Her vocals are sultry and both have a dark instrumentation that gives the entire disc a dream-like feel. It took me a few spins to enjoy the album, but it’s grown on me with each listen and may just find its way into a top list at the year’s end.
Pick up a copy of Devotion today, out on Carpark Records. In support of Devotion, Beach House will be conducting a five week tour across North America. Dates below.
Preview “Gila”
boomp3.com
Beach House website | myspace
Carpark Records website | myspace
Tour dates:
February 28th – Baltimore, MD @ The G Spot
February 29th – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
March 1st – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
March 2nd – Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree Cafe
March 3rd – Memphis, TN @ Hi Tone Cafe
March 4th – Hattiesburg, MS @ Thirsty Hippo
March 5th – Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
March 6th – Houston, TX @ Walter’s on Washington
March 7th – Austin, TX @ Emo’s
March 8th – Denton, TX @ Hailey’s
March 10th – Tucson, AZ @ Solar Culture
March 11th – Phoenix, AZ @ Modified
March 12th – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
March 13th – Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
March 14th – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Steynberg Gallery
March 15th – San Fracisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
March 17th – Portland, OR @ Holocene
March 18th – Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Cafe
March 19th – Vancouver, BC @ The Media Club
March 21st – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court
March 22nd – Denver, CO @ Hi-Dive
March 24th – Omaha, NE @ The Slowdown
March 25th – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
March 26th – Chicago, IL @ Schubas
March 27th – Cleveland, OH @ The Grog Shop
March 28th – Toronto, ON @ El Mocambo
March 29th – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Populo
March 30th – Winooski, VT @ The Monkey House
March 31st – Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Upstairs
April 1st – Middletown, CT @ Wesleyan University
April 2nd – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
April 3rd – Philadelphia, PA @ The Barbery
April 4th – Washington, D.C. @ Rock and Roll Hotel
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | beach house, carpark records, music reviews, tour dates
beach houses are really nice and it would always be a warm and relaxing place ‘-”