Beautiful Beach House

After nights of heavy drinking, I contemplate weird scenarios: What would happen if Lars Ulrich hadn't stolen the name of his band, would a band named Metal Mania sell millions of records? What if Bob Dylan and the Beatles had never met? And most importantly, if the White Stripes were kidnapped, bashed repeatedly over the head with aluminum tubing and ivory sticks, what would their next record sound like?

Thanks to Beach House's self-titled debut album, the last question has finally been answered: almost ambient, beautiful sounding music, with slide guitar and organ replacing the guitar and drums combination. The comparison to Jack and Meg is pure rubbish, really, it's simply by virtue of the band being the Baltimore duo of Alex Scally (guitar/keyboards) and Victoria Legrand (vocals/keyboards) and not Alex, Victoria, and some other fellows. The Stripes are so ingrained in the music scene now, though, that any guy/girl combo is going to have to deal with it.

On the band's MySpace page, the duo describe their sound in some unique ways: a penny dropping into a cup of oily water, a diamond's best girlfriend, twin camels taking a luscious nap in the Sahara, sound of the ocean through an expensive cell phone. I can't describe it any better; it's eccentrically beautiful.

Is it good? I don't know, it just sort of "is". It's light rain outside your bedroom. It's not unpleasant, and it has a lot of gorgeous moments - but it will have been over for ten minutes before you notice it's gone. This isn't to say the songs are ambient background noise; Legrand's voice is too beautiful and distinctive for that. It's more like the soundtrack to a French film about autumn changing to winter, perfect for scenes of chilly days with wind-blown leaves whipping about some tall, thin, cigarette smoking figure. Whereas in my American fall scenes I'm used to hearing California Dreaming or the theme from Rocky.

The album is very consistent in it's slow, mellow tempo and mood, making it the sort that really deepens with repeated listens. Moments that were at first indistinguishable come into relief, and others recede as the individual tracks start to stand out. Tokyo Witch, Apple Orchard and Auburn and Ivory are my particular favorites. Getting past that first listen, though, might be more than some are willing to give.

This is different, and as I stated earlier, I don't know if it's good. It's beautiful, and let's leave it at that.