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May 14, 2018For the most part, it’s the moments that pivot between shadow and light that provide the most pleasure. “L’Inconnue” emerges from its chrysalis around the 1:40 mark, Legrand singing in French as a heavenly choral loop begins to surround her voice. Both musically and lyrically, the development feels closer to the sound of falling in love than anything they’ve made, an ecstatic payoff that ranks among their finest work.
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May 11, 2018Beach House’s new record 7, lives up to all the hype you can heap on it and more. 7 is massive and intimate, dense yet understandable, fresh yet classic.
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May 11, 2018Listening to 7 is almost like spending time with a normally cheerful and sunny friend who’s angry at someone or something else: It’s a bit startling but not unpleasant or unwelcome, because it opens up another side to the person--and proves that they can still surprise you.
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May 11, 2018With 7, Legrand and Scally have gotten freer themselves. This is the sound of a band that knows itself extremely well and yet, in seeking outside perspectives and embracing imperfection, has discovered a whole new level to explore. If this album feels like an alternate-reality Beach House, it’s because Legrand and Scally have altered their reality.
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May 14, 2018The Baltimore duo have somehow gifted us their masterpiece, and though the rain outside has now stopped, new heavens have opened.
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May 11, 2018On 7, all the contrasts that mark their music are dialed up to blinding; you are plunged into darkness and then showered in light. The experience is so enveloping that you find yourself contending, once again, with that familiar itch to locate meaning.
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Sep 10, 2018Beach House is reaching for the moon once more on the beloved Baltimore duo's most stimulating aural experience to date.
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May 14, 20187, Beach House’s seventh album is definitely not their approach to the finish line, but a positive view on what’s yet to come. As their message of optimism and a cry of coherence is strong, this release also solidifies of their efforts and dedication, hence the Baltimore duo becoming titans in the music industry and being worldwide sweethearts.
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May 11, 20187 is a lush record that grabs you from the onset and contains tremendous depth beyond the surface. Not quite a full rebirth, the band feel free to indulge their experimental inclinations and loosen up, filling the record with a bright spark that makes it as exciting to listen to as it must have been to make.
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May 7, 20187's artful wooziness is hardly new, but for Beach House, it feels like home.
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May 15, 2018An album like 7 easily sets itself apart from any other record Beach House has recorded thus far; it's far more easier to write it off as a derivative indie album, but to do so would discredit the obvious effort it took to actually record something so different from every other album they've done yet.
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May 16, 2018A short, precise album which is equal parts inventive and masterful.
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May 14, 2018The result is 7, a record that gets closer to the band's self-imposed boundaries than they ever have before without really threatening to break them down.
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May 11, 20187 might have been a gamble for Beach House then, but they don’t appear to have lost anything. What remains to be seen is whether they stay on the same path of progress with their next record.
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May 11, 2018As with adding different herbs and spices to a favourite recipe to keep it interesting, Beach House add details that make the songs transcend formula.
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May 11, 2018Throughout 7, Beach House feel more concerned with capturing moments fully rather than conforming to notions of what a cohesive album is. That these songs sound like they came from different albums is ultimately more refreshing than disorienting, and the excitement that courses through each track is palpable.
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May 10, 2018These are big songs, full of wonder, and Beach House know it. Seven albums in, they're at the start of something new.
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May 9, 2018Instead of limiting themselves, Beach House are finally embracing all of their creative moments, which have inevitably challenged them to become better artists.
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May 7, 2018Minor evolutions aside, there's not a whole lot to set 7 apart from the six albums that preceded it, making it easy to see this as just another Beach House album. Don't take them for granted, since it's hard to think of another band that has delivered so reliably for this long.
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May 7, 20187 might not be their greatest moment (that right is still reserved for the utterly beautiful Teen Dream), but it is their most exciting.
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May 11, 2018Rock n’ roll is body music, and like the best electronic music, it aims for the gut. But even at their liveliest, the songs on 7 are designed for the head--a shot straight to the mind.
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UncutMay 7, 2018It's more of a subtle restyling than a full-on reincarnation, the soft-edged weightlessness, sumptuous tones and gauzy vocals still instantly recognisable. [Jun 2018, p.24]
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Sep 10, 2018It’s hard to think of 7 as anything other than an extension of Beach House’s sound, incorporating slightly different, smaller ideas but all easily applied to their own syntax.
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May 14, 2018Lemon Glow is particularly engrossing, a curdled night sky of a tune whose constituent parts weave in and out of focus. Black Car provides even more enthralling unease, where the various elements become unexpectedly off-kilter and 3D. ... Elsewhere, though, it’s business as usual.
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May 11, 2018Seven albums in, and with a formula that’s kept its core elements largely the same, it’s largely Beach House by-numbers, but the pair have a gravitational pull that looks like it will never run dry.
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Q MagazineMay 8, 2018There's plenty to uncover within its slowly crashing waves of sound, but the main problem is that it all washes over you without leaving a lasting impression. Sumptuous, but forgettable. [Jul 2018, p.108]
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May 8, 2018While they may not have completely achieved seventh heaven here, 7 is still a solid first step heralding Beach House’s next phase.
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MojoMay 7, 2018Pay No Mind plays appealingly like The Jesus And Mary Chain slowed to 16 rpm. Then, just as you're settling into drowsy twilight, out of nowhere, a lyric smacks like citrus on the tongue. [Jun 2018, p.89]
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May 11, 2018It’s not terrible, it’s mostly pleasant to listen to, it’s beautifully produced and it’s easy to recognize the skill it takes to craft their saintly, synth-driven sound. But when you couple a critical reputation like theirs with the band’s own claim of making a big artistic jump, mostly pleasant to listen to shouldn’t cut it.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 179 out of 205
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Mixed: 9 out of 205
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Negative: 17 out of 205
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May 11, 2018
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May 11, 2018
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May 16, 2018Wonderful album. One of my best album of the year so far! Beach house never disappointed.