Rating: NNN
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with Beach House’s newest dream pop album. Unfortunately, nothing stands out as particularly right about it either. To be clear: it sounds lovely and lush and does most of the things Beach House are great at. Maybe expectations were too high, but that’s hard to avoid when a band shows so much early promise. Bloom is good, but Beach House are capable of more.
The production does sound bigger and more detailed than previous efforts, and that suits the sleepy lullabies nicely. In fact, Bloom sounded pretty good to me until I accidentally played their previous release, Teen Dream, instead, and heard how much stronger its hooks and arrangements are.
Bloom is consistent in quality, and there isn’t a single bad song. It just feels like they spent too much time worrying about production and not enough time songwriting. Part of what made Beach House stand out initially was that they didn’t rely on excessive use of effects and studio trickery to conjure up interstellar soundscapes. They need to get back into that mindset.
Top track: Myth
