Beach House
Thank Your Lucky Stars
SUB POP
8/10
It’s hard to believe that Thank Your Lucky Stars came out of the same sessions as Depression Cherry, the first of the two 2015 albums from Baltimore’s Beach House. While Depression Cherry‘s churchy psychedelic pop is breezy and somewhat open (as if stained glass windows were propped for sun and shadow), Thank Your Lucky Stars closes the shades and shutters the glass for a mustier, darker vibe. When Victoria Legrand sings “To your sons and daughters / Bending at the altar / Disappearing in the mirror” during the crepuscular “Elegy to the Void,” it’s as if a funeral mass has started with its grand organ tones swelling in the background. The echo-heavy sound and sentiment of “Common Girl” seems to be coming from that same set of pews. All this glumness—and yet, there’s a might and muscle to Thank Your Lucky Stars that wasn’t there on the Lite-Brite Depression Cherry, as “Somewhere Tonight” and “One Thing” are thick with (seemingly) improvisational and nervous riffs and the ability to wrench power from pain and discomfort.
