The Daily Spin, June 18
Beach House | Depression Cherry
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Depression Cherry (2015)
Artist: Beach House
Link:
The genre most commonly used to describe Beach House is dream pop, and every time I come back to this album I think about how very apt that is.
The clear favorite from the album is ‘Space Song’, with its wailing guitar, marching synth backing, and the haunting vocals that remind us all of the joys in sadness, as they do the sadness in joy. It’s a formula they’ve done many times to great effect, but I’d argue it finds its peak on Depression Cherry, as from 1-9, this is a 1927 Yankees of brutally visceral pop, slicing its way to your core and leaving you raw and exposed to everything that comes afterwards.
It’s a picture-perfect examination of melancholy, down to the uncomfortable stutters that occasionally ding the album a little bit- my only other gripe being that 45 minutes is a long time for music paced at this level.
Outside of that, though, this is a stunning portfolio, an album built on the concept of the precipice, as though you are always one step from something wonderful - and if only you listen, they’ll take you there.
Rating: 9.5/10
Best Tracks: Space Song; Levitation
Worst Tracks: Bluebird