Once Twice Melody - Beach House: Review

Beach House

are a Baltimore dream pop duo who have been around for more than 15 years now. In that time they've become one of the most critically acclaimed and respected acts in all of indie music. Once Twice Melody is their 8th album and comes 4 years after it's predecessor. The project is a four disc album what was released in portions dating back to 2021. 

Review By Lav:

Is there anybody who hates Beach House? Maybe if you have no patience or eye for nuance their stuff can sound boring but what makes it beautiful and captivating is so obvious that I can't imagine anybody who doesn't see it. While they obviously have good albums and better albums their ability to continue to impress within their sound and genre scope is remarkable. I'm no stranger to dishing out praise for the band though much of it has been retroactively as most of their catalog predates my reviewing. Last year when I took a look back at 2010 I called Zebra a top 5 song of the year and Teen Dream my absolutely number one favorite album of the year. High praise will continue for the bands catalog including this review. I knew I was going to like this record because I was digesting the individual discs as they were being released but I'm still just impressed at how beautiful the bands sound still is after all these years. 

I can't talk about every single sonic and thematic element of every song here because it's over 80 minutes of material and that would be a slog, but I'm just going to take it disc by disc and see where that gets us. The first disc was released last year and kicks the project off with a trio of amazing songs. Once Twice Melody is a wonderful introduction to the record with a gentle hook and bombastic percussion. It fittingly has some wonderful melodies and soft lead vocals but they're never overpowered by the dense arrangement. 

Superstar is a song that combines a very fuzzy mix with some bright almost cheap sounding synths in a way that reminds me of The Radio Dept. in a great way. The monotone delivery backed by a sea of gentle swaying supporting vocals is amazing the the hook once again knocks it out of the park. Pink Funeral is a more familiar Beach House sound for fans of the Bloom era. The gentle and beautiful instrumental flourishes backed by that huge percussion is still a compelling combo especially when the songwriting and Victoria's vocals are so perfect. 

The only song I'm not crazy about on disc one is Through Me. It starts off alright but the vocal echo on the back end is a massive distraction and I'm not inherently against the idea I just don't like the way it's done. That kind of interrupts some of the beauty that the track builds up early on. 

That issue persists onto disc 2 though not nearly as badly with Runaway. The song starts with these surprising little synthetic punches and by the hook is becomes this cascading atmospheric synth piece. While the vocal effects do get a little bit oppressive on the quieter verses it still manages to come together on a great hook. I'm similarly iffy on Over And Over, the records longest song at over 7 minutes. It starts off as a kind of upbeat dream pop tune over this angelic layer of backing vocals before going through a long instrumental transition in the middle of the song. When it comes back around the sound is pretty comparable though maybe a little more obscured vocally. While the sound of the song is nice I'm not sure it does enough to make the 7 minute runtime worthwhile.  

Thankfully the other two tracks on disc 2 are absolutely great. ESP is an acoustic moment that focuses more on swaying refrains. It's almost slowcore at points the way it leaves so much instrumental space to breathe between passages. As it goes on it starts to get busier and busier in the background and I think it's a really lovely listen. New Romance is the best of the bunch with its dizzying little synth lines and triumphant wall of backing sound throughout the entire song. I love the urgency of the track and how it all comes together with such a memorable hook at the end it's just great. 

Disc 3 has even more highlights to be found. Sunset is a slow0burner that's grown on me a lot. While it may not sound all that eventful at first I think the sparse instrumental flourishes and vocal versatility are incredibly impressive. Only Your Know is the shoegaziest song on the record which obviously translated with me. I love how thick the mix is and Victoria's lead vocals are just left to wander this haze with beautiful results. It's such a maximal sound but within that is so much beauty with the chugging guitar lines and keyboard flourishes. 

Masquerade has a compelling lyrical hook centered around the idea of being "here tonight, then gone forever". Through that guise I love the immediacy of the song and the bright synths that work their way in throughout. I also love Illusion Of Forever which is a sentimental finale to the disc with an edge of nihilism built in. Just as interesting as the songs lyrics is its fascinating and attention grabbing sound palette. 

Finally there's Another Go Around which stands out sonically from the other tracks on the record. While there's a refrain or two that I really enjoy I wouldn't call it a favorite as there just isn't as much going on here to really hook me in. 

Disc 4 gets off to a good start with Finale which kicks off with icy synth leads and short but incredibly memorable refrains. Despite being called Finale while not actually being a finale I still love this song and it's one of the records biggest sonic highlights. The Bells is also a great track despite not being much about bells. It reminds me a lot of Depression Cherry era Beach House from both a songwriting and instrumental respective. I think it's one of the records most direct but ultimately rewarding throwbacks. 

Modern Love Stories is the albums closing track that actually manages to live up to the difficult task of being this long and beautiful album's finale. It's yet another percussion highlight but also features these cascading synths lines I love. It all culminates into a shift to acoustic instrumentation in the second half that is handled beautifully. I love the whimsical way the song finishes and it works as both it's own statement and a great closer to the record.

Hurts To Love features some of those organ like blurry tones alongside a uniquely digital synth passage for the album. The dichotomy is interesting and while it may not be my favorite songwriting I do at least find the soundplay interesting. I've seen a lot of praise for Many Nights and given that it's one of the dreariest and most nocturnal songs here I'm not that surprised. It's unfortunately the one song on the record whose instrumental loop start to really grate my brain as the track goes on. The loop just feels so short and starts to drag more and more noticeably as the song goes on. 

Once Twice Melody is huge and lengthy. Maybe a little too lengthy for it's own good as even the great songs on the back end of the record fail to stand out quite as much. For the most part however I think this is another fitting entry from one of the most consistently impressive bands in all of music right now. The instrumental arrangements, songwriting and vocals across this entire album are consistently walking this tightrope of expansion and intimacy that has always been at the core of their gentle and spacey sound. The different directions they decide to take is in are a treat more often than a bore and there's very little on the entire album I can call a "dud". Ultimately this won't surprise anybody, but the new Beach House album is pretty great. 8/10

Album Cover Review by Tyler Judson:

This cover is as simple as it gets. With not much to review I do enjoy the placement, design and color of the text and border. It could've been enlarged just a little to ensure it's legible and nothing gets lost in the filigree of the letters. The border is missing on the left side which I can only assume is because in physical form it wraps around the back too. I'm sure this one looks better in physical form because it's not much digitally. 4/10

For more indie check out my review of Animal Collective's Time Skiffs here