You Need Me: May 4th, 2009

“Beach House” may be one of the worst band names ever, relative to the quality of their music anyway. While I have no problem with beach houses per say, it doesn’t really conjure up anything significant in my brain in regards to music. Perhaps this is because of never been to a beach house before. In Ontario we go to cottages, which may or may not be on the beach. I think it’s mostly an American east coast thing. Beach houses are probably nice places, but they seem to have nothing to do with the somber, airy pop of either of these albums. I’ve included both albums of their catalogue for this entry because they sound very similar, and I just put them both in a playlist which totals about 80 minutes in length. I think this is pretty good winter music; I distinctly remember riding the bus to Buffalo during a terrible blizzard in February of 2008 listening to their first LP. And yet, it also works very well for Spring, particularly Canadian spring, which is kind of like defrosting your dinner in the fridge rather than the sink: it’s more drawn out, colder for longer, pretty wet, and yet you appreciate the final results all the more (perhaps).
Some people maybe find the vaguely romantic lyrics and general tone depressing. I don’t, but people are strangely sensitive about this kind of thing. I wonder what it is says about people who don’t listen to any mellow music because it sounds too sad. My friend Greg avoids anything sad-bastard, and it suits his character in my opinion. What’s that line from High Fidelity, “Was I listening to pop music because I was sad, or was I sad because I was listening to pop music?”
In any case, I don’t think this stuff is really much of a bummer. I find it very pleasant and maybe even romantic in a way. I can picture girls in particular liking this stuff, but my dad didn’t complain when it came on while a mix CD played as we drove, and if anyone is a man in this world, it’s dad (unless you live an Almodovar film).

Buy it here and here.
Download it here and here.