Review Summary: While 7 is one of the best Beach House albums, it's still far from perfect, but the electronic and synthpop influences show again that dreampop is alive and well
7, the new
Beach House album starts with this very groovy dream pop song: "Dark Spring". It starts with some drum beats and continues into this endless sounding groovy melody. Around 1:05 mark the song suddenly changes into even more dreamy soundscapes. The main melody is still there. At 2:30 mark some noisy guitars come in. The progressiveness sets the standards pretty high for the rest of the album. Around 3:10 the song changes into ambient noises.
The next song, "Pay No Mind" starts with noisy yet slow and dreamy melody and beat. The vocals and drums are more clear on this song. This song also has some nice synth sounds along with a clear acoustic guitar. After the first track this mellow song is still quite a disappointment.
"Lemon Glow" starts with a very energic synth melody. Victoria's vocals sound a bit different in this song, which is quite nice. This song has a very different, optimistic vibe compared to the past songs. This difference is really good and refreshing. At the end of this song, the drum beat becomes more dramatic and echoing, musically representing an end.
The next song: "L'Inconnue" starts with pure vocals. Soon synth strings come in, and after that some mellow guitars and drums too. This is a really soft ballad. It also has Victoria singing in France, which is really nice to hear. It also has some operatic sounding background vocals. Around 2:05 at the song the drum beat changes to a more reverbed and echoing one. This change makes people notice that the song is a reworked version of a song made for the movie “This Must Be The Only Fantasy”. A very nice suprise for Beach House fans. Also one of my favourite songs on this album.
"Drunk in LA" starts with synths and some sound effects. The drum beat immediately reminds me of "Space Song". Also the synth is similar to the one used in that song. The lyrics on this song are some of the best in this album: "I had a good run playing horses in my mind. On a hillside I remember. I am loving losing life". This song also has pretty neat guitar solo, which is quite uncommon in dreampop.
"Dive" starts with pulsating beat and anorgan type synth. The vocals on this song have a clear echo, which adds even more dreaminess. The guitar is also quite soft. The second half of this song is quite different, whit energic guitars and drums. This shows the songwriting skills that Beach House have and those skills are really, really good.
"Black Car" starts with almost "Everything in Its Right Place" esque synth. The drum beat is really slow. More string synths also come in. Somewhere around one minute mark a deeper bass kick is also added to the song. Even if the song is quite nice sounding and all, it's maybe a little boring...
The next song "Lose Your Smile" starts with some synths and acoustic guitar riff. Soon a drum beat comes in and Victoria starts singing with her dreamy voice. "Sweet lies on your face. Tears are out of place. Sunshine in the rain. Comes in rainbows and leaves again. Lose your smile. Lose your smile. When all the while, child. It's your own self giving in. Who's to blame this time?" the lyrics are almost mother-like. Again, this song too has a very small guitar solo.
"Woo" starts with a simple synthpop melody. The noices at ten seconds mark scared the hell out of me. Otherwise the song is a nice synth ballad, along with those weird noices, like someone laughing and talking from a distance. One of the weakest tracks on this album, honestly. "Girl of the Year" is yet another synth ballad. This time even more slower and boring.
Just after those two quite boring songs comes something else. "Last Ride" starts with a slow piano melody. Soon a weird synth noise comes in. Brian Eno inspiration is quite easy to notice. This song, while being very minimalistic is still far more interesting than the two past tracks. It's the noises that make this song so special. Around three minutes mark the song changes into more acoustic direction. Soon some distorted guitars come in too. Alex does great job in the backing vocals too. After 5:37 mark the song changes into distorted guitar ambience and then into ambient noises.
