Bloom
by Beach House

From Repo TOP 100 COMMENTER 04/03/2017 18:59 | #188614 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I’m not going to fight it. I’m addicted to the sparkling, candy colored songs of Beach House. Beach House go full-on arena-sized for this album. Launching the grandeur of the Cocteau Twins straight to the upper rafters. I completely give in to its waves of Cure and Loveless-era MBV guitars washing over me. I’m no longer Tilly. I'm just a rag doll. Letting myself drift effortlessly wherever the waves take me. These are the songs I play to beat back the doldrums when they’re nipping at my heels. To kick them off and instead reach to the heavens and sing and shout that I can still make it despite it all.

Grade: A. This is Beach House at their poppiest. And pop is a surprisingly good fit for them. I still prefer their sound when it’s little rougher around the edges and the guitar cuts a little bit more deeply such as on Thank Your Lucky Stars. But, it’s still essential Beach House and definitely one of the best dream pop albums of the last decade. (Edited)

I thought I had a pretty good grasp of dream pop by listening to Alvvays... I was sorely mistaken.

Wow, this album is amazing. It is texture after texture of glistening gems and fast-moving clouds through a blue sky. It's climbing a mountain just to see what the view looks like on the other side. It's going for the grasp of a crush's hand to both experience the thrill and anxiety of the journey to it, then realizing that your crush has been waiting for it and getting that warm rush to your face as you blush.

The production is impeccable, the instrumentation fits perfectly together like a puzzle, Victoria's vocals soar over vistas and landscapes of all nations, Alex's arpeggios bring familiarity and warmth to the overall package of each song. Myth may be one of the best songs of the last 40 years and On The Sea is another building piece of music like, but better, than 10 Mile Stereo. Like, the only real low point on this record is a hidden track that follows 6 minutes of needed comedown after a beautiful closer in Irene- and the hidden track could veritably not be counted against them.

What I'm trying to say is that I may need to rethink my top 10, nay, top 5 albums of the 2010s. We're now 2 months into 2020 and we need to pay more attention and respect to this album. Severely overlooked and underrated.

95/100

Favorite Songs: Myth, Wild, The Hours, New Year, Wishes, On The Sea, Irene

From johnner TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/15/2018 01:16 | #205623 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Very much the night to Teen Dream's day, in that it is more darker, more foreboding, more mysterious, and more melancholy. Best tracks include Myth, The Hours, Irene, and On The Sea.

From sophialeviev 07/16/2018 22:14 | #218353 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

The "pop" in "dream pop" is accentuated significantly, but don't let that fool you -- the hooks are catchy and earwormy yet don't play on the nerves. Definitely their best album.

Even dreamier than Teen Dream. It's easy to sink into. It's odd that the first three are the top rated tracks; I find that to be the weakest part of the album (Edited)