The Psychedelic Charm of Beach House

Sounding as though at any minute they’re going to break into a cover of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” the music of Beach House is at once hypnotic, delightful, and utterly spellbinding. They’re the quintessential dream pop band, often using traditional harmonic structures that suddenly take a left turn, with warping accompaniments and drawn-out musical phrasing. A sonic representation of those first few seconds of consciousness after a long sleep, and I mean that in the best way. If you don’t know their music, it’s time to familiarize yourself.

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Beach House (Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally) has just released their iTunes Sessions EP, which includes previously-released material along with a new song, “White Moon.” Accompanied by pentatonic instrumental arpeggios (CDEGA), “White Moon” highlights verse and chorus melodies that borrow those same 5-note structures, using primarily descending shapes in the verses and ascending ones in the chorus.

Verse 1 Melody (starting on Middle E and descending after): E D G G E G A…

Chorus 1 Melody (starting 1 8ve lower than verse, and ascending): E G A C E A…

The mainly pentatonic arpeggios give a pleasantly numbing effect while the chord progressions are vaguely rooted in traditional harmony:

Verse 1 Progressions: Cadd6  Em7/B  Cadd6  Em7/B…

Chorus 1 Progressions: Cmaj7  Am  Gadd6  Cmaj7

Though the second half of the song sounds like a simple repeat of the first half, you soon become aware that the melodic structures and backing harmonies have subtly shifted away from the pentatonic mode , and toward more traditional harmonies:

Verse 2 Melody: E E E F E D C B A B G… (mainly descending)

Verse 2 Progressions: C  Em  Am  G…

In music like much of what Beach House offers, you might think that the lack of contrast might be a danger. But because the charm of the music is its pleasantly anesthetizing effect on the listener, you’ll actually want contrast to be similarly subtle. In songs like “Used To Be” from the album Teen Dream, and “Heart and Lungs” from their self-titled 2006 release, musical phrasing almost defies musical logic, giving us melodies and harmonies that sound as though they could move successfully in any direction at any time.

The contrast often comes from melodic direction more than the actual tonal material.

The end result is colourful music, tinged with melancholy interplay between melody and harmony. Quite simply, Beach House gives us some of the best of the dream pop genre. And no matter what style you write, your own songwriting would benefit by becoming familiar with this duo’s work.

The best lesson songwriters can learn from Beach House’s music? The amount of contrast in a song needs to match the song’s overall character. Songs that use static harmonies with slowly morphing melodic shapes need simpler contrasting elements in order to avoid disrupting the song’s lulling effect. Often, simply changing melodic direction between verse and chorus is enough.

Check out Beach House’s iTunes Sessions EP. (Opens in a new browser window)

-Gary Ewer, from “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” website.