Beach House -- "The Hours"

Beach House, the dream pop duo out of Baltimore, have been making quite a bit of buzz the last few years. After a totally solid debut and sophomore album, 2010's Teen Dream was a total knockout. It was a record that everybody was in total agreement upon. However, their most recent album, Bloom, has not been as well received. While being most predictably adored  by Pitchfork, many music critics have been very mixed on this new record. For me, I like it a great deal, but is it as great as Teen Dream... eh maybe not. I will just say that I think many critics are being slightly luke-warm to this album simply because of the popularity that the band received with Teen Dream.  Music critics are a bunch of tools who often get upset when a super talented band like Beach House ends up "stealing" that sound the critic created in 94' in his mom's basement. "Dude, we like opened for some serious acts..." Sure you did buddy.

Sorry for the tangent. Anyway, while it takes a little bit of time to get into Bloom, if you peel back the layers of this record, you will find some serious gems. "The Hours" is by far the absolute standout on this record. It goes in so many different places at once. From that weirdo sample in the beginning, to those beautifully airy harmonies, to that rifffffffff. Oh man, that riff is easily the most killer guitar work I have heard all year. Then, about thirty seconds into the song, you are dropped right into Victoria Legrand's lap with that absolutely beautiful melody. Don't even get me started on the chorus. I have been humming the part where Legrand sings "don't care about me" every day since my first listen of this song. This may rival "Walk In The Park"  as my favorite Beach House song. Check it out!


Beach House -- "The Hours"