Summer Soundtrack: Beach House's Bloom

As we approach the summer solstice, here is an album that has already earned a place on my 2012 Best list.  Fittingly, as the northern hemisphere tilts closer to the sun, it's the latest from Beach House, Bloom.

The long shadow of Brian Wilson hangs over this duo, a Baltimore pair that has been recording since 2004 and now sits in the center of the genre known as "dream pop."  It's a big, lush sound, full of harmony and vocal wash. Boomers, there are echoes of George Harrison, ELO and the Zombies and later, Dream Academy's Life in A Northern Town.  Everybody else, you know this sounds as kin to Panda Bear, Animal Collective, Sigor Ros, Deerhunter, Camera Obscura, Atlas Sound, Grimes, my recent faves Chairlift and Tennis -- oh, for God's sake it's everywhere.  Haven't you been paying attention?

This stuff plays with contrast, just like Wilson's best: the sunny melody that wraps up a lyric about loneliness and alienation.  (And who doesn't love a dollop of irony with their pop?)  But forget about narrative, these songs are all about mood:

Face it, right now this sound epitomizes the antithesis of rap -- there's not a hip-hop bone in its body.  But as Beach House puts its across, it's not slack.  It has tension and a certain muscularity that's revealed in this live version of Wild:  

Earlier Beach House disks felt, well, washed out.  This one has cohesiveness and heft.  I'm moving in for the summer.