By JULIET PEREZ
Staff Writer
I have listened to maybe more than 100,000 albums in the past 18 years of my life, but Devotion by Beach House has to come in my top ten favorite albums of all time. The album was released on February 26, 2008, by the band, which consists of two members, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally. As of now, the two have 9 official albums out, and my favorites are devotion, bloom, and depression cherry. All of their albums consist of relatively slow songs, however, I would say that out of the three I named Devotion is the slowest. My dad listened to Beach House all throughout my childhood but up until maybe 7th grade I never really liked them because to me they were “too slow”. But in 7th grade I ended up really liking a song named “Lover of Mine” off of their Teen Dream album, then later that year I started to really like the entirety of Depression Cherry, especially the song “Wildflower”. Going into high school I started to listen more and began to like more of their albums but I never really got into Devotion until around sophomore year. According to many reviews that I’ve read on the album, many Beach House fans found it hard to get into the album as well, however, once they were into it it became one of their favorites. I love so many things about this album, including the production, the sounds, and the lyrics. The sounds consist of bells and chimes and a weird mellow sound, I can’t even put into words how beautiful the whole album is because of the sounds. They make the songs feel almost churchy but in the best way possible, the production makes everything feel so cozy and warm. In an interview about Devotion, Victoria depicts the atmosphere of the song “Heart of Chambers” as being like “a dark psychedelic candle-lit room”. Throughout the album, there are so many references to water such as oceans, harbors, sailing, ships, swimming, dock, island, and ponds. The water could be a reference to the deep mystery at the heart of relationships and how people are navigated with trust and faith. There is no really no way to explain the feeling I get when I listen to this album, sort of a nostalgic, sad, and warm feeling. Especially with Victoria’s voice, which is absolutely just incredible and unique in every way. My dad has always said that no one else and nothing else sounds like a Beach House song. These are my favorite songs off the album with the best timestamp included:
- Gila (1:56 – 3:56)
- You Came To Me (1:30 – 2:19)
- Turtle Island (1:38 – 2:13)
- Holy Dances (2:55 – 3:48)
- All The Years (1:26 – 2:06)
- Astronaut (2:09 – to the end) (best song on the album)
I am seeing them in concert on April 10 and I am so excited because this band means so much to me. Again, I can’t put into words how good the album is, so just listen to it.