By: Thomas Bell

Alex Scally (guitar/keyboards) and Victoria Legrand (vocals/keyboards), the latter of whom is the niece of French composer Michel Legrand, are Beach House. Their singular sound is back and much more refined on their sophomore full-length, titled Devotion. This offering reflects the band’s fascination with 60’s Motown and country folk (not that it sounds much at all like either) and the influence is subtle and filtered through their gauzy, otherworldly aesthetic. Their moods are indeed dark, but not without shimmering bits of light emerging frequently.

The songs are so fully formed in their vast variety of colors, shades, and moods; the orchestrations done with such restraint that at times they sound like covers of older, classic songs. Both the songs and the arrangements are impeccably crafted from start to finish ... It's truly a Gestalt album. The individual parts alone are simple, if intricate. Some of the organ lines and figures would even sound silly by themselves, but all of it together is undeniable as brilliantly-crafted chamber pop. While it hearkens back to an earlier era, it does so much more subtly than, say, Beirut. For instance, the vocals are at times throaty and world-wise, and could have been delivered by a Nina Simone. The layers of context make it something else altogether.

The third track, Gila, could so almost be a straight-ahead soul ballad. Instead, the delicate layering of sounds, the minimalism of the arrangement, the lack of indulgence, the delivery of just the essential makes it beyond pretty and takes it into sublime territory. These are perfect songs for the middle of the night, emotionally or literally, especially if it’s a rainy night. Not really anything like Low or Mazzy Star, but similar in that these songs don’t so much rock as smolder at their own perfect pace.

Roy Orbison sang for the lonely, and not just the song. If you’re feeling lonely, Beach House has got your back with this one. Though the harmonic and mood undercurrents throughout are dark, it's the light that prevails. Lyrical themes of love, feeling and devotion are woven into an album that's ultimately comforting and beautiful. The entire record creates a world where it’s safe to be sad, happy, melancholy.

Simply put, the Baltimore duo takes Legrand’s darkly sauntering, velvet vocals and Scally’s keyboards and matches them with an old school drum machine to take their sound to new levels. This Beach House would appear to be deserted during a bleak winter except for lovely, ghosts waiting to draw you in with lithe, seductive melodies and lush orchestrations. Sounds like? Perhaps if Chan Marshal were a swing-era torch singer and recorded with some configuration or other of This Mortal Coil.

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Video: Beach House