Baltimore’s Beach House have been touring extensively of late with current E&D faves Fleet Foxes and there are certain similarities, dreamy harmonies and a whimsical ambiance, but there it ends. This record doesn’t have any of the X factor that has made Fleet Foxes an instant hit around our office. It’s hard to put one’s finger on exactly what it is that’s missing. Originality? Verve? Imagination? Probably a little bit of all of that.
‘Devotion’, I’m sad to say, is a ‘nice’ record. It shuffles along doing what it does very well, but it does not grab the listener’s attention at any point. One track slides gently in to the next, all floaty vocals and burbling backing. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is Easy Listening for the Alt Folk generation.
There’s the odd track that pokes it’s head above the zephyr blown grass, ‘Astronaut’ comes on like a West Coast Air, ‘Holy Dances’ almost gets a groove on and the closer, ‘Home Again’, nearly works up a sweat, but mostly it plods along like some sort of Mediterranean donkey.
This album will be massive with the Zero 7 set, the soundtrack to many a sunny Sunday come down, but it just doesn’t have enough spark or variety for me.
Top Tracks: ‘Astronaut’, ‘Holy Dances
Released 09/06/08 on Bella Union