The Sound of Music: Beach House and the Reimagination of Dreampop
Beach House didn’t invent dream pop, but their influence on the sound transformed '80s shoegaze into its own art form.
The Sound of Music breaks down how every little noise ― that instrument, that sample, that oh-so-significant pause ― makes a song special.
Written by Grace Robertson
Photo courtesy of NME
In every great space movie, there’s a scene where the crew of the spaceship looks out the window hatch at a beautiful and inconceivably huge space phenomena, like a planet or black hole. This is, in a way, what it's like to listen through the Beach House discography — a sometimes otherworldly slide into a new space, expansive and often sparse.
“Dream pop” is a genre of music that offers a journey into the unexpected, through textured sonic layering, plenty of synths, and a collection of unusual instruments (like the electric organ). Dean Wareham, whose band Galaxie 500 pioneered the genre of dream pop in the ‘90s, told Pitchfork the group wanted to shrod themselves in otherworldliness early on: "Our very name suggested a band from another solar system." As one of the first true dream pop acts of the early 2000s, Beach House took a genre dominated by harsh guitars and muffled vocals and shifted it to the twinkling, electronic organ-heavy sound associated with dream pop today. Atmospheric and dreamy, they burst (well, gently eased) onto the dream pop scene almost two decades ago, and somehow managed to alter its landscape forever. Instead of conforming to its distorted transcendence, dream pop conformed to them.
While alternative is probably the broadest catch-all name for any genre ever invented, Beach House’s particular brand of alternative music comes from shoegaze, a subgenre of indie rock that first emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s. It was named for the performance style of its artists, who stood nearly comatose onstage, literally staring at their shoes. Shoegaze aimed to bury the vocals over production effects and a heavy guitar, to subvert the typical melody-heavy music of the time. In the 1980s, U.K.-based record label 4AD signed a collection of bands that would become known as early pioneers of dream pop, including the Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil, and Dead Can Dance. The label's carefully curated roster was full of layered, often feminine vocals and moody melodies, but its aesthetic cohesion came across through intricate vinyl packaging. 4AD’s record sleeves were full of dark and dreamy swirls and negative space, which Beach House later employed to fit their own sound across 11 years and seven albums, keeping them consistent.
Shoegaze and dream pop had plenty of overlap in the late 1980s and 1990s. Use of the terms largely depended on region; what was known as dream pop in America was called shoegaze in the U.K., but they started to drift away from one another at the start of the new millennium. Instead of a heavy focus on guitar distortion like in shoe gaze, dream pop began to hone in on melody and employed the typically catchy choruses of pop on top of a glimmering, weightless sonic landscape. It’s difficult to define dream pop as a genre; it’s more of a sound and aesthetic than a list of limitations. That’s partially why Beach House mastered it so well; over the course of nine albums, the group hardly deviates from the gauzy sonics and vocals that characterize its music.
The Beach House duo formed in Maryland in 2004, after lead singer Victoria Legrand graduated from Vassar College and Alex Scally graduated from Oberlin College. They met in Baltimore’s indie rock scene, which was surprisingly lively at the time. (Rolling Stone once named the city the best music scene in the country during the early aughts.) Just two years later, Beach House released its self-titled debut.
Pitchfork named it No. 16 on the 50 best albums of the year, calling the songs “empty, drafty, and lazy … more elegant than spooky.” The tracks are spare and contemplative. Unlike shoegaze, clarity is the sonic goal rather than muddling the noise with a collection of slide guitars and heavy drums. In opener “Saltwater,” a liturgic organ plays over a rattling, clickety-clack that adds to its expansiveness and invokes movement. Unlike bands they’re often compared to, like Mazzy Star and Lush, Beach House’s use of heavy resonance and organs gives its music more depth and darkness than Mazzy Star’s more romantic, gentle sound. Legrand’s velvety drawl, best heard in "Apple Orchard,” captures some of the melancholy and glamor of old country without traditional country instruments or a steel guitar.
Beach House’s early songs were sparse yet captivating. The pair used an electric organ, finger glides, and light guitar riffs to create a layered, complex sound without the murkiness of 20th century shoegaze. Legrand’s voice, a lower and fuller alto, contrasted that of the twinkling soprano of well-known dream pop acts like the Cocteau Twins. Instead of burying vocals under a complex sonic landscape, Beach House highlights her voice with sliding guitar riffs to create an expansive sound.
The members honed in on their sound in 2010's “Teen Dream,” implementing live guitars and more dynamic melodies than before. Legrand’s vocals were more powerful than ever, especially on “Norway,” where tense and short verses and tight pauses lead into a soaring chorus that launches Legrand’s voice to new heights. At this point, the band had completely migrated away from the original sound of the genre-muffled vocals, heavy guitar glides and distortion, and buried melodies — but they were still the flag bearers of dream pop.
Beach House sounded its most ethereal and atmospheric on 2015 album Depression Cherry. The members replaced booming drum kits with sparkling synths and layers of tight, whispered vocals. In “Sparks,” the band explores dissonance in a new way as Legrand’s classic electric organ clashes with a sliding guitar and a chorus of whispers in the background, echoing her voice.
After the 2016 presidential election and the cultural divide it sparked, the band responded by redefining their own sound without completely leaving it behind. They explored new sonic styles one 2017’s 7. From the muffled distortion of the dim opener “Dark Spring'' to the shadow and light of “Lemon Glow,” the album is more forceful than the typical Beach House record.
Image courtesy of Sub Pop Records
In the throes of the ongoing pandemic, the Baltimore duo released its latest EP Once Twice Melody last month. Beach House's most cinematic release yet, the three-disc installment is complete with a live string ensemble and dreamy, psychedelic visuals to match. Legrand and Scally's music has always been a catalyst for mirroring all-encompassing emotions, and Once Twice Melody perfectly encapsulates the drama of a true feature-length film — which seems fitting after the past two years. After nearly a decade of making music, Beach House continues to move into the unknown. And thankfully, they are taking us all along for the ride.