It’s hard to imagine how a new Beach House album could sound any more lush than their past work, but the duo has achieved the impossible on their eighth LP, Once Twice Melody. Singer Victoria Legrand and multi-instrumentalist Alex Scally enlisted a live string ensemble for the first time, which lends many of these songs a sprawling, epic quality. Once Twice Melody also boasts 18 tracks—double the amount usually found on a Beach House album—giving it plenty of time to cycle through intimate dream pop (“The Bells”), pulsing rock (“Only You Know”), and twinkling, electronica-tinged ballads (“Pink Funeral”). If a standard Beach House album is cinematic, then Once Twice Melody is the whole multiplex.
This article originally appeared in BUST's Spring 2022 print edition. Subscribe today!
