Beach House gathered medicine for heartache with the enigmatic expressionistic echo of this transcendental reverberation. The acclaim afforded their first two albums 'Beach House' and 'Devotion' on independent Carpark Records led to a deal with Sub Pop Records. 'Teen Dream' was recorded at Dreamland Recording Studio in Hurley, New York in a converted church with producer/engineer Chris Coady. The record shows the duo expanding their sound ever so slightly with a more sophisticated sheen.
Alex Scally explains: "Looking back on it, it wasn't really something we were conscious of happening. But I think touring all of 2008 on a record [Devotion] that was very much still-sounding and difficult to convey to an audience, it really drove us toward something different, almost wanting to take those songs as we play them live and making them surge and pulse more. Every night, turning up the volume, every show getting louder and louder. When we started to write these new songs, there was always this feeling that needed to be there in order for us to be excited about it...And also, in performing live and recording, I personally feel, and I think Victoria feels the same way, that we started to grow really tired of the kind of sloppy or fast sound of lo-fi that we were so into in the beginning. Just that really fast thing where you try to catch a sound really quickly and try to capture this energy to it. It's really amazing and so many people do it so well and it can be such an interesting thing. But for me, it just started to get really boring. I really felt like, 'If we record this sound, this tone, you know, it might sound awesome if we did it on a four-track cassette right now, it would sound really cool. But if we recorded it with this really nice mic and maybe stereo-panned it, what would it do?' Just trying to go for sophistication. Which sounds a little elitist, but that's really what a lot of it was. Probably our demos for this record were as good or better sounding than Devotion. Before we even really went to record...Yeah, it's been awesome. I think the other records were more monochromatic in energy too and this one entertained a lot more feelings and a lot more shined through. And there is a lot of sickness, and there's sexuality and depravity, that's all there. So much of that is in there."
Victoria Legrand considers: "More than anything, the jumping-off point for me personally was just having played so many shows. Just the live performance and the live energy. When we got back, there was all this stored-up energy...We were almost feeling tied down by certain things...We were thinking about stripping things away and pushing them further. There was a kind of constant feeling of not settling for things that we may have done in the past. We pushed ourselves harder...We're very song-oriented; we believe in songs. It's very important to us that every song is treated with great care. So in that sense, the album, beginning to end, is very important to us. Not that it's a concept record that must be listened to in its order or anything, but that at any point you would pick up the record and feel that you're in this universe. We would never be happy with ourselves where only one song stood out, that's not even part of our hemisphere...Moving to a bigger label isn't about making things easier. It's about going to someplace new so that you can continue to challenge yourself. Because I think we sort of outgrew a certain place that we were in...And there's probably still innocence, and there's still love and heartbreak. It's just a wider spectrum."
'Teen Dream' went to number forty-three on the US Billboard 200 album chart and number six on the US alternative albums chart.
http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com/
"Zebra"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-wfb25WmV4
"Silver Soul"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njbmwfndFH4
"Norway"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHbtR8uO81M
"Walk in the Park"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeaHW-rUsUQ
"Used to Be"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OK_eK_cuKI
"Take Care"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZxrIbTMJr4
'Teen Dream'
full album:
https://myspace.com/beachhousemusic/music/album/teen-dream-14779771
http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/Teen+Dream/3646381
http://www.last.fm/music/Beach+House/Teen+Dream
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA6A2ED4650D23884
1. "Zebra" 4:48
2. "Silver Soul" 4:58
3. "Norway" 3:54
4. "Walk in the Park" 5:22
5. "Used to Be" 3:58
6. "Lover of Mine" 5:06
7. "Better Times" 4:23
8. "10 Mile Stereo" 5:03
9. "Real Love" 5:20
10. "Take Care" 5:48
bonus:
11. "Baby" 2:59
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT151NLiWvo
