Irrecoverable moments
A beach house in which so dreamy and intense soundscapes are born as the ones reflected by the duo Beach House should not be ignored for long. In their self-titled debut, the duo formed by Victoria Legrand, niece of French composer Michel Legrand, and Alex Scally, declared themselves as Master of none still showing a warm sophistication. In their second album, Devotion, intimate tone brought us a startling intensity warning us of the need to escape the wedding bells ring at the rate of the conventional. Now their Teen dream sounds more hopeful, with a little more light from the small corner where they are collected to pamper their inspiration. Victoria's evocative voice and subtle arrangements combining guitars, drums and keyboards that accompany their letters with the delicacy its fragility claims, are a difficult passage resistance.
What does a beach house represent to you?
V: Being rich and tan.
A: A place to disappear in!
And right now, which season is your beach house in?
V: It's the winter season.
A: Winter with some strange paradise mixed in for good measure
Are you always looking for isolated places to create the dreaming atmospheres we can hear in your songs?
V: We like to write in our own world, yes. It's important to not be distracted so that ideas can blossom.
A: We both really love community and friends, but it is hard to write if you don't have space to concentrate
Victoria’s voice and subtle guitars, they have the leading role in your songs but we can hear also some keyboards supporting them. Are you always trying to explore new sounds to progress?
V: We fall in love with keyboard sounds all the time. We have always used keyboards in our music, since the beginning. Most songs start on keyboard. It's an integral part of Beach House.
A: Constant exploration forever! I hope we never stop exploring, it's a large part of our lives.
V: Being rich and tan.
A: A place to disappear in!
And right now, which season is your beach house in?
V: It's the winter season.
A: Winter with some strange paradise mixed in for good measure
Are you always looking for isolated places to create the dreaming atmospheres we can hear in your songs?
V: We like to write in our own world, yes. It's important to not be distracted so that ideas can blossom.
A: We both really love community and friends, but it is hard to write if you don't have space to concentrate
Victoria’s voice and subtle guitars, they have the leading role in your songs but we can hear also some keyboards supporting them. Are you always trying to explore new sounds to progress?
V: We fall in love with keyboard sounds all the time. We have always used keyboards in our music, since the beginning. Most songs start on keyboard. It's an integral part of Beach House.
A: Constant exploration forever! I hope we never stop exploring, it's a large part of our lives.
V: That was in high school, long time ago. Maybe one day I'll look just like Robert Plant.
A: Victoria is Robert Plant in disguise...
Your previous record, Devotion, seems to be some winter photos put on sounds. The cold inspires you especially?
V: The world inspires us, sounds inspire us, our instruments inspire us. The cold is not that inspiring. It's a good time to be indoors and writing though.
A: I like the thick crazy feeling of balmy air!
Devotion is particularly present in teenagers and now you’re singing a teen dream. What did adolescence mean to you?
V: For me, adolescence was about growing physically and being intense in my mind. Kind of all over the place and hormonal. It's an obsessive time.
A: Adolescence means living with insane passionate feelings and being fearless of the unknown, I feel that these energies are found in Teen Dream
This new record, Teen dream, sounds more colorful than Devotion. Are you talking about past dreams or present dreams?
V: Any dreams. Sex dreams, night dreams, day dreams, past dreams, Future dreams. Wet dreams.
A: What she said
“Norway”, for example, is hopeful like the light we can see through the window in your myspace but at the same time you’re singing about a danger you have to run away from. Do you think life is dangerous?
V: Life is radical and exciting. Danger can be exciting. "Norway" is imaginative and full of fantasy. We're always running from something and running towards another something.
A: Very Dangerous and very exciting!
“Silver soul” is a very evocative song with a astonishingly surrounding guitar. Like most of your songs, I think this song is like being in a mirrors hall where you can’t escape from your feelings. What do you expect people feels with your music?
V: I like your interpretation. I hope that people feel like you just did. Intense and full of imagination.
A: whoa, that is scary as hell, I hope people just feel something real and intense.
Intimacy is especially important in your music, so what about the experience of a live show?
V: Intensity and intimacy at the same time is a nice goal. Playing lots of live shows has definitely influenced the intensity of our music.
A: We try to reincarnate the energy of the song so that the feeling is right there for you.....we will be using the stage more and more in the coming years.
Which image evokes the future to you?
V: Florida.
A: Purple and Pink Palm trees swaying mechanically to a snare drum that sounds like a bass drum
And which sound?
V: The sound of water running from the jacuzzi into the swimming pool. That little part where the water trickles steadily over the edge.
A: The fuzz of air
Recently, Victoria has sung accompanying Grizzly Bear on songs like Two weeks and Slow life. Now they dream of relaxing in hot air as they begin to receive the first sensations of their latest Teen dream. At every step, their music sounds a little brighter, as their particular southern destination. But wherever they are, it always seems as if there where they play had not been anyone before. Since the first notes of Zebra, the opening song of the album, almost whispered in your ear for the delicate Victoria’s voice on the caressing guitar arpeggios played by Alex, you engage in the sense that every minute is unrecoverable. One by one, they reeled softness and hardness, alerting us to the common drift which plays with will-o'-the-wisp and turns our lives in a poor lie. They prefer the intensity of two bodies stretched on the sand moving in the eternal darkness. And if it can be in a jacuzzi, even better.
Interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Photos and video courtesy of Beach House
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All rights reserved