Written by Chris Panico
Beach House’s newest record Depression Cherry is essentially the sonic embodiment of the perfect buzz you get from middle-of-the-road red wine. It has that awesome vibe that can be found when you’re just a little loaded, doing literally nothing, and are extraordinarily happy about it.
Cherry has a consistent dreamlike quality to it; a reasonable sound to come from the Baltimore duo. Each song on the record maintains a consistent dynamic level, shimmers with reverb and echoes, and is accentuated with touches of slide guitar and cleverly mistuned counter melodies.
For what it is, Depression Cherry does a great job. There’s no ego or grandeur about it. Much to the contrary, the new release stays very low-key, nourishing the down played subtlety that Beach House was born into. As a listener, it’s easy to slip into the new album and let it wash over you, each song becoming a continuation of the last.
It would be easy to say that the strengths of Depression Cherry are also it’s weaknesses: with longer-than-normal songs, little dynamic contrast, and few (if any) identifiable hooks, some listeners may find the album to be a bit boring. I don’t think that those are the people who the record was written for though. Within context, it seems to me that Beach House does a pretty wonderful job with the latest batch.


Rating: 7/10
Click here to purchase Depression Cherry by Beach House on iTunes.
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