All words: Nina Slesinger
All photos: Sam Graves
Beach House's Teen Dream is unquestionably one of the best records of the year. It's brimming with dreamy, ethereal pop with androgynous vocals (courtesy of Victoria Legrand), all coated in a layer of gauze. While Devotion was a good album, Teen Dream is the band's first to feel like a definitive work--cohesive, singular, and beautiful.
So, naturally I was looking forward to seeing them play the first stop of their U.S. tour here at the Black Cat.
The show started with New Zealand's Bachelorette. It was clear to see why she was chosen to open for Beach House: her songs were breezy and serene, but unfortunately they didn't translate in a live setting. Her one-woman act was endearing (and the ample use of a looping pedal was impressive) but while hearing her play I couldn't help thinking how I would've preferred to have her music pulsing through headphones while lying on my bed.
Victoria Legrand, Alex Scally, and a third percussion player came on stage to rapturous applause. They opened with "Walk in the Park" and kept moving at a pleasant pace through tracks off of Teen Dream and Devotion. For the first half of the show, all I felt was pleasant. The songs sounded the same as they did on the record and I didn't feel particularly engaged in the live show. At that point, I felt Beach House was a band that writes beautiful songs, but couldn't translate the beauty live. My mood changed drastically when they played "Zebra." Finally I felt absorbed in the music and the energy. The other highlight was set-closer "Take Care," which rocked pretty hard for such a dreamy love song.
When Legrand and Scally did speak, they were charming. As the clock struck midnight during their set, Legrande noted that we were now entering "the galaxy of Saturday." She herself seemed from another galaxy. Hunched over her keyboard, she thrashed her bushy hair and gazed into what I can only assume was the ether. Only adding to the spacey effect were the pinata-esque set decorations, which caught light and glittered ever so softly, perfectly complementing the tone of the music.
While the set did take a few songs to really take off, I left the Black Cat smiling and totally won-over. The crowd was appreciative and happy and the whole show had good vibes around it.
Previously in Live DC:
- 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
- 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
- 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
- 2/7: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club
- 2/6: LiveDC: All Things Go Presents: Reptar/ Casual Curious/ Fort Lean @ Gibson Guitar Showroom
- 2/6: LiveDC: TYCHO/ Beacon @ RNR Hotel
- 2/6: LiveDC: The Kills / Jeff The Brotherhood @ 9:30 Club
God loves a cheerful giver.
They would have had me at Walk in the Park. Glad to hear it was such a great show, I've got high expectations for Balto next month.
not sure where the reviewer is coming from regarding the first half of the set.. from the very start the songs sounded much larger/lusher in a live format (mainly due to the addition of the live percussionist who was rock solid). the energy was very high from start to finish. great show.
I remember seeing Beach House a while back and I said this then, and I will say this now: Victoria has one of the most insane (in a good way) voices out there. Like a full on, throwback soul singer, but in a new, gentler genre.
http://www.brightestyoungthings.com/live-dc/live-dc-beach-house-the-hotel/
@commentment- Sometimes when I'm at a show I feel like the energy of the music doesn't really pick up right away. This was one of those shows for me. That said, everything sounded great and I left the Cat spellbound. Just took a bit longer to get there.
@Svetlana- Yeah, rereading this now, I'm realizing I didn't comment on how great her voice was. And it was so great. It cut across the music really nicely, and she's definitely one of the more interesting female vocalists I've ever heard.
I know it doesn't matter, but I was also really disappointed when I saw them live. They are boring. Their music is boring. This is fine if you like boring things, and sometimes I do enjoy listening to their recordings when I am pining for someone or something, but once I get over it they just leave me limp. Sometimes slowness and understatement are signs of subtlety and nuance in the songwriting (Simon Joyner, Julee Cruise), and sometimes they are merely a mask for shallowness (Low, Asobi Seksu).
My jury is still out on Beach House. As my grandfather used to say: "Puttin a candle on a turnip dont make it a cake."
i saw them at siren last summer and was not impressed.
BALTIMOOOOOOOORE!!! BALTIMOOOOOOOOORE!!!
Totally went around yelling "Baltimooooore!" the rest of the weekend at inappropriate times.