Teen Dream

Beach House | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: January 26, 2010
• Release Date: January 26, 2010
• Label: Sub Pop Records
• Copyright: 2010 Sub Pop Records
• Record Company Required Metadata: Music file metadata contains unique purchase identifier. Learn more.
• Total Length: 48:52
• Genres:
  • Alternative Rock
• ASIN: B0034EEE2E
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,441 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 60 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars beauty and magic February 6, 2010

By Michael L. Connor

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

I like dreamy pop. I'm 56 years old and I liked the Beach boys as a kid in 1962.This was before the Beatles. I liked them and the Four Seasons. "Don't Worry Baby" was my idea of pop perfection. So I am a fan of unapologetic pop music.
The Beach House's Teen Dreams makes me feel good. Sort of reminds me of Fleet Foxes, My Morning Jacket, High Llamas.
The DVD is not up to par with the music. It's actually detracting. And I don't like the recurring motif taken from the hackneyed Temptations' riff from the beginning of "My Girl"
All the same, Teen Dreams is still close to perfection.
I am thrilled that I found the review on Pitchfork and that I decided to take a chance on the CD. It's beautiful music and I will be sharing it with friends and family.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beach House - Teen Dream January 26, 2010

By Andrew Vice

Format:Audio CD

Beach House have been working quietly and steadily since their 2006 debut, amassing fans, styles, and sounds along the way. Teen Dream is the most fully realized album by Beach House to date, filled to the brim with their signature lush melodies and dreamy ambiance. This album pushes into decidedly shoegazey territory, bringing to mind the masterful works of the Cocteau Twins. But Beach House are no style thieves, and Teen Dream sounds like a unique work, heavily inspired by history's great dream pop acts without being a copycat. The songs are lilting and beautiful, and easily the most compelling compositions to date for the band. Songs like "Zebra" and "Silver Soul" are powerhouses, pushing the band into new and daring territory without sacrificing a thing that has made them so successful within their sphere. This is a must-have album for dream pop fans. Expect plenty of critical praise.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beach House - The Baltimore duo achieve dreamy pop perfection January 26, 2010

By Red on Black TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

For many it was only a matter of time until Beach House delivered big time and sought world domination. For this punter alternatively (with the exception of a couple of songs such as "Apple Orchard" on their debut and "Holy Dances" and "Gila" on their second LP "Devotion") a sense of deep indifference has been the predominant feeling about this band. Indeed if truth be told they seemed like a bunch of Mazzy Star sound-alike's with "Fade into you" the overused template. What a mad fool I have been, "Teen Dream" is an outright stunner and propels them into the major leagues.

The anticipation around this album across American music blogs has been huge largely as a consequence of widespread leaks of the album. The result is that it is already being hyped up as this year's Animal Collective equivalent e.g. an album released in the first month of the New Year which will dominate 2010's musical landscape. In the first place a comparison between "Teen Dream" and "Merriweather" makes little sense since they are chalk and cheese in terms of musical styles. But more than this they are unhelpful since they burden "Teen Dream" with a comparison which it does not need and a weight of expectation that this fragile beauty should not be required to carry. After all it is the quality of the music that counts.

Beach House is a duo from Baltimore comprising Victoria Legrand (yes she is related to the French composer Michel) and Alex Scally. "Teen dream" is on the Bella Union label and Sub pop in the US and recorded in a church in upstate New York and you can tell. This is an album of real grace and power. The songs are characterised by an ethereal dreamy pop sensibility and Legrand's voice has echoes of Nico, Marianne Faithful, Patti Smith and of course Hope Sandoval. It gives a slightly hard, sultry and sometimes raspy edge to Beach House's sweet melodies and Scally's wonderful backing instrumentation.

The album starts brilliantly with the sublime "Zebra" which sets the tone for the rest of the album with its slow guitar lines that build and burn into a classic pop anthem. It is gorgeous stuff as is "Silver Soul" which follows it. And then there is "Norway" the single which has been readily available for months. In this reviewers humble opinion it is one of the greatest pop songs of this century thus far. Legrand's vocal is as smokey as a fine Cuban cigar and contrasts with the breathless backing vocals. This mix is combined with a weird and slightly distorted electronic backing but which works in spades. It is bloody perfect and if you don't get the album at least download this. The slow processional pop of "Walk in the Park" which follows "Norway" is remarkably its equal and provides no let up. These first four songs are by far the strongest opening quartet to an album which I have heard in many years.

"Used to be" has shades of the wonderful innocence found on Mercury Rev's "Deserters Songs" album and for some reason "Lover of Mine" reminds me of "Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence" with a slight Japanese feel. "10 mile stereo" is easily the best vocal performance by Legrand on the whole album. The only qualms I have come in the shape of "Real Love" and "Take care" which are the tracks at the moment that I can't get too worked up about. "Take Care" has one of those constant repeat vocals that go on beyond the point of irritation.

Small caveats for what is a towering performance. "Teen Dream" is a lush and magisterial album that you would be fool not to let it into your life. They support Grizzly Bear in the forthcoming spring UK tour and that will be some concert. 2010 is starting well "Teen Dream" shifts it up a gear.