Baltimore dream-pop duo Beach House soothed and reassured the masses with 2008’s syrupy Devotion, but the leak of its successor Teen Dream caused near apoplexy on the blogosphere. Having provided some guest vocals on Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest in 2009, the mellifluous Victoria Legrande returns to her day job and talks about the “sexual” new record that’s causing such a flutter.
So there’s almost this impression that you’re the band for 2010.
Really? That’s kind of intense. I just hope we have a really good year. We’re really excited about touring, we can’t wait to make these songs come to life. Thanks for the compliment.
What’s your impression of the differences between Teen Dream and Devotion?
Devotion is a record we were writing on and off through periods of touring, so it was kind of a fragmented process. We’re almost lucky that that record happened because of how much time management was going on. With Teen Dream, we finished touring and we basically had nothing to do but be completely dedicated to the songs that we had stored up. We also had a bit more money to spend on taking our time. That allowed us to really get what we envisioned out of it. So I think time has a lot to do with it.
In an old interview, you said that you were tired of being called languid, and that when you made a new record there’d be new adjectives. What are the adjectives you’re expecting to hear for the next year, then?
New adjectives. Sexual. Obsessive. Rhythmic. This record has a lot of different motions to it. There are a lot of fluid elements to it that aren’t fluid the way Devotion was, where things are kind of all the same level. Devotion doesn’t ever go very high or very low. This record has more life in it, and I think that’s a result of how much energy we put in. Creating a volcano basically, a nine-month long volcano. So, like I said, sexual, dark, obsessive. People are going to have a lot of new words to think about. We’re not trying to escape the dream-pop thing, the dream word is something that’s always going to be part of our music, we’re just trying to give new energy to people.
You once said your four track was the most important piece of equipment you had. Does that still hold true?
The four track is still important, it’s the spine, where things are grounded. But with Teen Dream, it’s not a lo-fi record like the first record, which was foggy and really hazy. There’s a lot more clarity. But the four track is still the heart of the band, definitely, along with our organs, the instruments we love. We’re never gonna ditch things that have worked for us, but we’ll try and challenge ourselves to see what we can make from what we’ve always used.
Do you see Beach House as part of a larger movement toward nostalgia or some kind of fuzzy memory in music at the moment?
I think that all music is a memory trigger, except for maybe cash money rap. We all share that ability to make music that makes people feel certain things, but I don’t think this record is a fuzzy record. I think it’s very dynamic and very intense, and it’s not just about nostalgia. And the title is not a longing for the past. It’s just open. They’re words that are very classic-seeming and that fit really well with the record. In that sense, I don’t feel connected to fuzzy memory. I feel connected to a much broader spectrum of feeling.
Do you have any memories of playing Electric Picnic this summer?
Good God. Do I have memories of Electric Picnic? We had a great show, I remember that. But I remember not playing until like 3.30 in the morning and then leaving at 8 in the morning the next day. It was a really intense experience. I still don’t believe that it really happened. The festival was missing an essential piece of equipment, so it was kind of a nail-biting experience, whether we were actually going to get to play. But it happened. Kind of like playing Russian roulette or something.
Okay, compulsory Baltimore question. Do you have a favourite Wire character?
I have only seen a handful of episodes of the Wire, actually, but I can tell you my favourite character is that murderous girl, what’s her name? Snoop?
Beach House’s Teen Dream is released through legal means on January 29th. They get all dark, sexual, and oppressive on Whelan’s on the 13th of February.
Words: Karl McDonald
