Beach House: Devotion : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

"Your wish is my command," purrs singer-keyboardist Victoria Legrand on "Wedding Bell," conjuring an image of I Dream of Jeannie's Barbara Eden bottled up in a bong. The lead track to the group's second full-length is true to the spirit of its name: This is music as secret hideaway, all come-hither vocals, fuzzy organ riffs, liquid slide guitar and muffled drum beats riding swells of reverb onto soft white sands. Fans of Nico-era Velvet Underground and Eighties mood merchants Mazzy Star will be in familiar territory.

But as with those groups, the siren songs can get rocky. Legrand's bandmate Alex Scally helps bring the noise with serrated guitar outbursts and spooky ambience; check out "Some Things Last a Long Time," a Daniel Johnston cover that sounds like it was recorded in a leaky basement. The chanteuse can be threatening too: On "You Came to Me," Legrand conjures Jim Morrison plotting something unwholesome ("Invite your sister/Into the garden," she beckons). And that's fine: As comfortable as the Beach House sound is, it's the uncomfortable moments that are most seductive.