Beach house

Have you ever heard about dream pop? Although it has pop in its name, it’s not a mainstream music, but rather indie or alternative – it always bothered me why the genre goes by dream pop and not dream indie... maybe that’s the matter of how it sounds, dream indie sounds a bit awkward, I admit, but nevermind!

Dream pop is a very specific type of music and I always find it difficult to describe it as accurately as possible, but the main idea is to create a music which kind of puts you into this mood of slow-motion almost. I know it sounds bizarre, but I assure you it’s awesome. Dreamy, ethereal, hypnotic, mesmerizing, calm, soothing... that’s how I feel it. Also, it’s very inspiring, because it allows you to fully immerse yourself in the music and the lyrics (which happen to have an important role in the immersion itself), and as a result it opens your mind in such a way that no other genre of music (none that I know of) can. It’s an ideal music while you travel, read, paint or even just lie down. It’s a bit similar to ambient music (which in turn I would describe as the core of the sound that accompanies you everywhere as a sort of background – very interesting btw!), but dream pop more often than not has lyrics. As I said before its introspective role is significant, the breathy vocals accompagnied by minimalistic sound and melody (mainly produced by guitar or synthesizer) make the whole package. Alright, now that I’ve cleared it up, let me introduce you to my favourite dream pop band : Beach House. (Though they hate it when people label them!)

Beach House is an American duo created in Baltimore in 2004 by a vocalist, Victoria Legrand and multiinstrumentalist, Alex Scally. Their meeting must have been written in the stars, because they claim to be musical soulmates, their bond growing stronger with time taught them patience and cemented their friendship. That must be why they are going as strong as ever even today (which not many bands and duos can brag about). As of 2018, they have released seven full studio albums, the last of which, called 7 , was released on May this year and has been critically acclaimed, some even call it their best album yet, and I must highly agree with that. It takes you on a fantastic journey.

 Interesting fact : It took them about 11 months to create 7. Normally they would make it in half this time, but they decided to polish it and not limit themselves in the writing process and in the musical aspect. They like to experiment with the sound in general but not to this extent – 7 has many songs that can’t be recreated live, bold decision, may I add. As for the lyrics their main source of inspiration and questioning was the place of women in the world and the different roles that society imposes on them.

The Baltimore duo is one of a kind. They are bold, creative, strong-willed, down to earth, very sensible and attuned to interpreting and analysing the human psyche. Although they don’t really like to talk with the press, when they do, their interviews are extraordinarily profound, philosophical even. Here is one of them, if you’re interested.

Is dream pop your cup of tea? Write in the comments!