Beach House (2)

The Dream Team
Beach House Steps Out of the Shadows on "Teen Dream"
By Andrew Clayman
Published in The Cleveland Scene, June 2010

It’s not too often that one can pinpoint the exact moment when a band hops the fence from obscurity to celebrity, but for Beach House, it was probably this past January the 22nd.

Just a few days before the Baltimore duo’s Sub Pop debut Teen Dream hit shelves and raked in the praise, Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar) found themselves on the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon—performing on television for the first time in their career with the highly-rated final episode of Conan O’Brien’s Tonight Show as their lead-in. If Beach House’s first four years had taken place in a frying pan, this was most certainly the fire.

“It’s a little nerve-racking and bizarre to play like that—one song on national TV,” Legrand says. “But the crew and Jimmy himself were lovely and all chilled out. We brought our own lighting and our fur [stage] structures and they were cool about it. The whole thing had a surreal element to it, to be sure, but it was fun.”

Admittedly, “Beach House on Fallon” isn’t exactly on par with “Beatles on Sullivan,” but for a band that had mostly cultivated its cult status in the shadows over the course of two hypnotic, ethereal albums (2006’s Beach House and 2008’s Devotion), the TV gig was both a coming out party and a statement to the group’s existing devotees. With the iconic Sub Pop label behind them, things were about to change.

“Yeah, it was a practical decision,” Legrand says, referring to Beach House’s move from the respected but small Carpark label to Sub Pop. “[Sub Pop] had been interested since the first record, but Alex and I weren't interested in bigger labels. We didn't feel like waiting around for some stupid record deal that would take forever and then having to tour the record for two years like some bands do. We just wanted to put it out and start touring right away, and that's where Carpark came in. We've been DIY for over four years-- never used to having people do things for us. But moving to Sup Pop was about widening our artistic channel; getting a bigger house so our ideas-- our mental furniture-- could have more room to grow. It wasn’t a glamorous decision about blowing up.”

In fact, as Legrand sees it, Sub Pop may have had more to gain from the arrangement than she and Scally did.

“We definitely cultivated our fan base ourselves,” she says. “No label did that for us. If anything, labels need bands today. A band doesn't need a label if they're touring their asses off and cultivating their universe. Bands basically make labels look better. It's a great change from the way it used to be, I think.”

So, whether Beach House needed Sub Pop or vice versa, the result has been, by virtually all accounts, the best Beach House record to date. Halfway through 2010, many critics’ “Best of the Year” lists still include Teen Dream—an album that twisted and bent the band’s dream-pop templates enough to create a more cohesive and energized—but no less distinctive-- collection of songs; including the current college radio staples “Zebra,” “Norway,” and “10 Mile Stereo.”

“I think it's been a natural evolution for us,” Legrand says. “Teen Dream wouldn’t exist without the previous two albums. But a lot of it is also the result of lots of touring and the bottling of life and live energy that goes into that.”

If one song on Teen Dream epitomizes Beach House’s growth, it’s—appropriately enough— a track called “Used to Be.” Legrand and Scally actually released an earlier version of this song as a Carpark single in 2008, and it had all the classic Beach House elements in abundance—a grade-A pop melody, a Phillip Glass-style organ riff, droning atmospherics courtesy of Scally, and the otherworldly vocal aeronautics of the classically trained Legrand. When they started playing it live, however, “Used to Be,” like Beach House itself, began a slow metamorphosis.

“We felt that there was an emotional depth in the original that could be cultivated more,” Legrand says. “So we worked on it and changed its shape and bone structure and flesh. We worked with different sounds; we removed certain sounds, etc. In the end it was about transition in the arrangement. We wanted to bring ‘Used To Be’ to the level of a ‘Norway’ or any of the songs on Teen Dream, for that matter. …We're probably more intense now than ever before when we hear things we write. But fortunately, our ability to work obsessively on something together has remained the same.”

Five years into their passionate (but notably platonic) musical partnership, Legrand and Scally have also maintained a simple philosophy when it comes to playing music, no matter how big the audience gets.

“It’s not a job,” Legrand says matter-of-factly. “We don’t ever want it to feel like it is.”

For 2009 Beach House feature in Chicago Innerview Magazine, go here

Wye Oak

Haves and Have Knots
Baltimore's Wye Oak Take the Fast Track to Indie Success
By Andrew Clayman
Published in The Nashville Scene, October 2009

Despite the seemingly wink-wink title of their sophomore album The Knot, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack are not married nor planning any nuptials in the near future.

For them, another life-changing social contract might only pale in comparison to the one they signed two years ago, when Wye Oak (then known as Monarch) joined the powerhouse indie-rock roster at Merge Records. Up until that point, Stack and Wasner's upstart alt-country project had been more of a pastime than a profession—helping them stick a foot in the door of Baltimore's flourishing music scene, but hardly offering any promises beyond that.

"With If Children [the band's 2007 debut], we basically did it as a hobby," Stack acknowledges, "because we didn't have a record label, and honestly, we didn't really even have a live setup figured out yet. We just had these songs that had been written in the last year or two and we wanted to have some way to showcase them. So we did it as a sort of recording project, finished the record, and put it out. Then it got picked up by Merge and they re-released it."

Stack is fully aware that the matter-of-fact delivery of that last sentence would drive many a struggling indie musician crazy. For 20 years, Chapel Hill-based Merge Records has served as the gold standard for indie-rock labels, both for their ability to recruit and develop talented, innovative artists (Arcade Fire, Spoon and Lambchop among them). For most young musicians starting out, getting signed to Merge is a pipe dream—- a distant goal on the horizon. For Stack (drums, keys, vocals) and Wasner (vocals, guitar), both in their early 20s, it became an overnight reality.

"I wish I could give advice on how to do it, but it was really just an incredibly brilliant stroke of luck for us," Stack says. "We self-released our record, and I tried to do a little bit of a press push on my own—sending copies out to different websites and blogs and a few record labels. I didn't even include Merge, because most labels of that level don't really accept demos, just because they get so swamped by them. But as it turned out, Mac [McCaughan] from Merge heard our music on some blog and got in touch, and I sent him a few copies of the record, never expecting to hear anything from him ever again. I just figured he sent out messages like that 10 times a day. But yeah, a few months later, he offered to re-release If Children, and [Merge] has been fully onboard with us ever since then. It's pretty incredible, but I still don't know how the hell we got on the label. [Laughs.]"

All humility aside, most critics would tell you it's the songwriting craft and diverse palate of Wye Oak's music that actually landed them on Merge, and the release of The Knot this past summer only seems to have confirmed the potential that Stack and Wasner had shown on If Children. A more cohesive and refined batch of songs, but no less dramatic in their tonal and emotional shifts, The Knot is the perfect marriage (no pun intended) of Wasner's absorbing compositions and Stack's heavy, hazy arrangements. Walk in during one part of "Take It In," and you might think you're in Gillian Welch territory. A minute later, it's more like Sonic Youth. Put it all together, and no other band comes closer to recreating the Neil Young & Crazy Horse gestalt right now than Wye Oak.

"I think it's been a really natural thing for us," Stack says. "We love a lot of old country-rock stuff like The Byrds and Gram Parsons, but at the same time, we're into a lot of noise-rock and more experimental stuff. So while we're not necessarily an experimental band or a country band, it just happens that a lot of these different styles that we've been checking out kind of coalesce in our sound."

If you're looking at Stack and Wasner's adorable press photo and trying to figure out how a young, happy couple could make music this dark and desolate, you're not alone.

"Yeah, especially on this new record, people have been talking a lot about how dark it can be," Stack says. "You know, we'll talk to people and they'll say, 'Are you guys OK? Is everything all right at home?' [Laughs.] But yeah, I don't think either of us are particularly dark people. We're actually pretty lighthearted generally. I don't know. I think everybody has outlets, and the songwriting for us can sometimes be an outlet for some of those darker feelings or ideas. But you know, we're not wearing black nail polish or anything like that."

Beach House

Beach House
More Colors in the Emotional Rainbow
By Andrew Clayman
Published in Chicago Innerview, September 2009



As evidenced by the font-size discrepancy on the marquee, Beach House is merely opening for Grizzly Bear during the bands’ two-night stint at the Metro this month. Fans of the fast-rising Grizz should be warned, however—when Victoria Legrand starts singing, it’s easy to forget that anyone else is on the bill, or on the planet for that matter.

Legrand (vocals, organ) and Alex Scally (guitar) started Beach House back in 2004, and have since risen to the forefront of a thriving Baltimore indie scene. Both their self-titled 2006 debut and 2008 follow-up Devotion were hailed as dream-pop classics, with most of the emphasis falling on the duo’s classical training and ethereal, almost trance-inducing combination of organ and slide guitar. Chicago Innerview caught up with Legrand and Scally-- on tour in Europe-- at a lovely hotel in Amsterdam. . . eh hem, via email.

Andrew Clayman: Back in December, in this very publication, I proudly ranked Devotion the top album of 2008. Was I correct, or did I totally miss the boat on something far superior?

Alex Scally: Well shucks, thank you very much. There were so many records released that were really unique and great in different ways—there’s no way that I could get my brain to decide which was #1. That would just be silly.

Victoria Legrand: Thanks, Andrew! I heard you ranked on 2008's Hottest Men of the Year! (writer’s note: Victoria’s sources are not to be trusted)

AC: Based on the rare updates to your website and Myspace pages, I’m assuming Beach House is a bit more old school in its sensibilities. Do you pay much attention to reviews or online buzz about the band, or is that generally avoided?

Alex: We notice it sometimes. I am just not online very often without a specific task....i think the online music world has been great for spreading music with less "commercial appeal." I just hope that people are taking time to really listen.

Victoria: I don't like to look for internet spluge. I like to keep internet at a safe distance.

AC: A lot of critics tend to fixate on Beach House’s “dreamy” sound and classical background, but your skills as pop songwriters tend to get overlooked, I think. Do you see Beach House as a “pop” band?

Alex: Yes, we do. I am so glad that you say that because we do fancy ourselves to be pop writers. I think that every song that we’ve made has had that energy-- it's been there all along.

Victoria: Pop is music that makes you feel, and we have always responded to sounds and melodies that made us instantly feel something right inside of our chests. The classical knowledge is a great tool. But your natural instincts take over when you hear something right.

AC: Do you think it’s fair that you tend to get labeled as a “melancholy” band, or is that a mischaracterization?

Victoria: The melancholy thing is okay, but I think many other colors in the emotional rainbow are coming. I hope to start hearing new words other than "languid" and "sleepy.”

AC: After you get back from Europe you’ll be touring as the opener for Grizzly Bear. How close are you with those guys and what are you looking forward to about that experience?

Alex: They’ve been kind of like an older brother to us— we’ve learned a lot from them. I suppose I’m just excited to play in larger rooms and try to make it feel intense for ourselves, even with the loss of personal communication.

Victoria: Killer bros, those guys. We are looking forward to driving thousands of miles while they soar by in the big old bus. All joking aside... they have been nothing but natural from the start-- kind and thoughtful. Ed (Droste) is always blowing my mind.

AC: How’s the next Beach House record coming together?

Victoria: It’s cocooning splendidly!

Alex: We’ve finished recording and are hoping to release it in Jan or Feb.

AC: Considering Victoria’s pedigree (she is the niece of French film composer Michel Legrand) and Beach House’s sort of David Lynchian mood, it seems like you’d be perfectly suited to working on some film scores? Any discussions of something like that?

Alex: Yes, in our dreams....hopefully soon!

Victoria: I would love to work on a film. It's always been a dream of mine.

AC: Finally, as one of those much-ballyhooed “Baltimore bands,” are you generally proud ambassadors for the city, or does the association start to become a bit limiting?

Alex: I’m fine with it. We really love the community we’ve found in Baltimore—everyone is making such drastically different stuff, really.

Victoria: Yeah, Baltimore is just fine. I live there, my stuff is there-- so is my cat. I come and go. Great friends. It's never limiting-- just every couple of months I want to run screaming into the desert.