Mesmeric shoegaze-pop straight outta’ Baltimore is what rainy Monday nights in Glasgow are all about… So it was perhaps no surprise that last Monday the city’s O2 ABC venue played host to the gorgeously ambient sounds of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, otherwise known as Beach House.
Following the duo’s successive 2015 LPs, Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars, Beach House’s most recent visit to Scotland’s ‘second city’ saw them playing to their largest Scottish crowd to date.
The band, playing primarily as a four-piece live, command a hushed reverence throughout their set, as their delicately grand and sprawling compositions roll out beautifully in front of a minimalist stage set of twinkling lights and white cloth pillars. Beach House perform in a straight-line stage formation, with Scally seated for the entire performance, cast as mysterious silhouettes by the darkness and back-lighting.
Stopping only to say “hello” and “thank you,” anecdotes don’t really seem to be Beach House’s thing but their silence between songs serves to create a real intimacy between performer and audience that can be lost in a Grohl-esque “Are you with me Glasgow!?”
Shy and quiet and masterful, Beach House arrest attention at every turn. “Myth” from 2012’s Bloom, sounds positively ethereal while newer tracks like “Sparks” embody grandiose affectations which almost stumble into post-rock territory. Legrand’s vocals glide through the venue, shrouded in reverb and as Beach House ease through their set the scale and sheer craft of their songwriting has the audience enraptured. Truly stunning stuff.
Grab Beach House’s latest album, Depression Cherry, on iTunes.
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