The Dream Pop of "Beach House"

Hipster alternative bands that come onto the scene and disappear all of a sudden are a dime-a-dozen. But, when a formidable indie band surfaces it makes some loud waves. This is the case with Beach House. An alt-pop duo consisting of French-born Victoria Legran, who is the niece of both filmmaker Michel Legrand and singer Christiane Legrand, and Alex Scully from Baltimore, Maryland.

This team has created a confection of a rarely visited genre of modern music by the name of “dream pop.” Their third and latest album, Teen Dream, is a whimsical meeting of progressive alternative organizations with atmospheric arrangement.

They are a halfway meeting point between alternative music’s machismo and chill-out bravado. In one instance on their album, the track “Used To You” serves as both a pretty lyrical ditty and a very well-structured song. Another standout track on the album is “Norway,” which would confuse the listener at first with its novel arrangement but would grow into an anthemic ode of longing that will bring the western fjord right to your living room.

The band has managed to create a name for themselves with endless gigging and some features here and there. But, 2010 seems to be the year for them as they will be all over the map promoting Teen Dream.

Loft965 is the ongoing Music Contributor of SQUA.RE.