On first impressions it would be easy to award Beach House the fattest of zeros for their fifth LP, Depression Cherry. The cheaply made velvet packaging malts away under the slightest of breezes, spiralling fluff not only around my recently polished room but also into my nostrils, perhaps making it the first ever album unsuitable for asthmatics. More insulting yet is that on the cheap artwork itself it seems that the designer forgot to actually turn up, resulting in a sleeve barer than 50 Cent’s bank account. And lastly, there’s the most inexplicable title of the year, Depression Cherry.
Though the album pains your nose and eyes, it can only be described as a massage for your ears. Opener ‘Levitation’ has the most fitting of titles, returning the listener to exactly where Bloom left off; an ethereal, melancholic soundscape well above the Earth’s surface. Alex Scally’s shimmering guitar line coupled with Victoria Legrand’s hushed vocals is the gentlest of take offs, richly hypnotic and phantasmagorical in nature, lulling the listener into daydreams of a nearby utopia. When we return to our Earth-bound selves in ‘10:37’, it is only for a light fuel stop; the grimy urban beat progressively dissolves into choruses of cascading vocals and immersive soft synths in its crescendo. ‘Days of Candy’ is the strongest case that Beach House have well and truly mastered the lo-fi bedroom pop genre but comes with a truly menacing and misleading title. In typical fashion the duo lift higher musically but crush ever more painfully lyrically: “the universe is riding off with you” bemoans Scally as the curtains close, leaving the stranded daydreamer with nothing more than a lump in their throat and the feeling of a quill tickling their ears.
Admittedly, Beach House haven’t changed their game since breakout album Teen Dream. Depression Cherry is no different, but why bother when you’re at the apotheosis of captivating blissful dreampop? The battle between Richard Branson and Beach House over who can take humankind higher is most certainly intensifying after the huge gains made here. Consider any coughing fits resultant of a furry sleeve well and truly worthwhile.
Dom Edge