Beach House
Thank Your Lucky Stars

“Nihil sub sole novum” (Qohelet, 1,9)

“Nothing is new and neither are you” (Victoria Legrand)

There is nothing new under the sun, says the Bible. Nothing new and neither are you, confirms Legrand in “Majorette,” the opening track of Beach House's sixth album.

And there's nothing new in “Thank Your Lucky Stars” either. Nothing more and nothing less than what we've already (pleasantly) gotten used to with their previous albums. A sound, between the dreamlike and the melodic, that is immediately recognizable; a formula (based on keyboards and guitar) repeated, but never tiring.

The magic of the music from the Baltimore duo is evident from the first seconds of the already mentioned opener “Majorette.” The following “She's So Lovely” will find favor with fans of Beach House's “Devotion,” while “Common Girl” recalls the progression of “On The Sea” inserted in atmospheres close to their self-titled debut. “All Your Yeahs” is more open, different from the usual and (in the final part) with a seventies-oriented keyboard that, for some reason, reminds me of Abba's “Dancing Queen”.

The partial novelty of “TYLS” is the presence of a more prominent guitar: Alex Scally delivers a true solo in “One Thing” and a beautiful riff bordering on noise environments in “Elegy To The Void.” The latter is a chiaroscuro where the shadows dominating the initial part are pierced, in the second part, by the light emanating from the guitar line.

Legrand's voice takes on a more central role, particularly in “The Traveller,” where they explicitly cite the Monster Movie (a spin-off of Slowdive), and in “Somewhere Tonight,” a real gem relegated to the closing. A song with a '50s feel immersed in a timeless dimension, a slow dance with closed eyes that seems to last forever.

The music of BH is made from the same substance as dreams, and “Thank Your Lucky Stars” is no exception. Beach House offers us another work faithful to their musical history, which sees them as the (almost) undisputed heirs of the Cocteau Twins. Alex and Victoria, keeping their trademark practically unchanged, manage the feat of never betraying the expectations of their listeners.

Oops!…They Did It Again