Beach House: “Apple Orchard” (download)
Beach House: “Master Of None” (download)
I have a love-hate relationship with pop music. At least half of the time, I find pop music too sickly sweet, too annoying, too generic and/or too boring. but on other occasions, my heart has been known to pitter-patter for the right catchy hook, or the right balance of rock and pop (as my last.fm top tracks chart will surely point out).
Indie pop, in particular, tends to drive me insane or drive me to sleep. It is for this reason that “Master of None” by Beach House sat, unlistened to, on my desktop for at least a week. The name Beach House, I thought, could only imply pop music of the most stereotypical nature, and therefore, I decided I would wait until I was in the right mood to listen to it. (As I’ve mentioned before, I have a tendency to sit on things for awhile.)
This morning, I felt ready to give it a chance, and oh, what a pleasant surprise it was. Yes, this Baltimore duo is indeed a pop band. But they make the kind of pop music that I love — slow, pretty, dreamy, hazy pop music. Of course, I’m picky about this brand of pop music, as well, because it, too, can get boring and repetitive. Once again, Beach House delights, because their music is neither of those things.
Since I posess only these two tracks, I can’t provide a more in-depth analysis, but I can tell you that I’m having a minor freak-out over how good these songs are. “Master Of None” is particularly enchanting and infectious, but both tracks point towards a potentially jaw-dropping release. October 3rd seems far too long to have to wait for the album, but alas. For more songs and info, visit their myspace page.