Once Twice Melody

Album review

Beach House's style is so distinctive that it's a small miracle Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally continue to find ways to keep their music fresh. In the past, they've released two albums in the same year (2015's Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars) and added different sounds into the mix (as on 2018's 7). In its sheer size and musical inventiveness, Once Twice Melody recalls all of these projects while changing things up once again. The four years between 7 and this album gave Scally and Legrand plenty of time to fill their notebooks with songs, and Once Twice Melody's generous length takes the huge scope their music has implied since Bloom to its logical extreme. Beach House also self-produced the album, and that may be why the sounds and moods they explore flow so seamlessly, especially when compared to 7's discrete experiments. If that album expanded the idea of what Beach House could sound like, then Once Twice Melody fills in that idea with colors both familiar and new. The album begins with one of the most impressive strings of songs in their discography. "Once Twice Melody" kicks things off with the washy synths and tinny drum machines of the duo's early days, then swells into strings (courtesy of arranger David Campbell) that add some symphonic '60s pop majesty to the feeling of floating through space that Beach House always conjures so brilliantly. "Superstar" is an instant classic, channeling the echoes of a long-ago love with frisson-like arpeggiated synths and a gently chugging beat. Another standout, "Pink Funeral," suggests a collaboration between Bernard Herrmann and Cocteau Twins as it teeters between loss and bliss. Scally and Legrand come a little closer to their listeners on the tender "Through Me," a fine example of how her poetically simple lyrics let her voice ring out like a bell. Though Once Twice Melody is unapologetically lush even by Beach House's standards, the duo uses space creatively to express the beauty in sadness. On "Over and Over," they allow these feelings to unfold in an epic seven-minute sweep; on "Many Nights," there's a candlelit coziness to Legrand's voice even as the song builds around her. And while "Hurts to Love" sounds like it could have been left off of Devotion and the black chiffon moods of "Masquerade" hark back to 7's sexy electro-pop, the album's acoustic-based songs are often the most exciting. "Sunset" is a campfire song, Beach House-style, and the honeyed slide guitars on "The Bells" lend a surprising warmth to its dream folk. Equally comforting and creative moments like this give Once Twice Melody the heart to match its ambition, and the way different songs stand out on each listen reaffirms that Beach House's consistency is the opposite of predictable.
© Heather Phares /TiVo