Beach House

About two years ago, I was waiting in line to get into a show when I saw a flyer for a band called Beach House. Intrigued, I took a photo of the flyer so that I could look them up when I got home.

The first song I ever listened to was this song called “Zebra.” It’s a very simple song with the same guitar chords throughout the song, but the singer, Victoria Legrand’s raspy voice made the simple chords into a heartbreakingly, beautiful song. Her voice is enchanting, mesmerizing even. So as the evening went on, I heard song after song, and was immediately hooked on their sound.

The year I discovered the band they had actually just stopped in Austin, which was what the flyer I saw in the street was for, so they stopped touring for a really long time. This past summer however, they returned to Austin and preformed at, what I think, is the best venue in the city for intimate music: The Moody Theatre. I bought tickets with my best friend in March and then waited four months for the date to arrive. We were stoked.

Once again, like many of the artists I mention on this blog, they sounded exactly as they do on recorded versions of their music. Just as predicted as well, the mood in the venue was super intimate. The room was pitch black with only their light show to provide any source of illumination. Their light show, by the way, was something unlike I had ever seen. They had weird images in the form of light installations playing in the background, like a pair of eyes that looked around the room or a set of old hands. My favorite was their starry effect. They had a light installation that projected across the room so it looked like you were in space, which makes sense because their music is what people call, Dream Pop. You hear it and feel like you could float away listening to it.

I doubt I’ll have a chance to see them preform again for a while, but I have to say that even though I was in a room full of people, their music, performance, and stage setting made me feel like I was listening to them in my bed with the lights off, with a pair of earphones hanging in sides of my ears.

Check out the starry installation that took my breath away in my post below.