Beach House's New Video For "The Traveller" Is a Lovely Psychedelic Dream Journey

We still haven't fully come down from seeing Beach House at Pitchfork two weekends ago, and now Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have surprised us with a new music video for Thank Your Lucky Stars track, "The Traveller."

A standout from a virtually flawless album, "The Traveller" shines in the Jennifer Juniper Stratford-directed visual that seems to reveal the journey taken is through time and space itself. Shot and processed on intentionally obsolete equipment, the striking images of a lady in red ebb and flow in a gorgeously distorted way truly befitting of Beach House's sound, while adding an '80s psychedelic edge to the dreaminess.

Watch below, and read our review of Thank Your Lucky Stars.

Thank Your Lucky Stars is available... In the US, from the Sub Pop Mega Mart: https://megamart.subpop.com/releases/beach_house/thank_your_lucky_stars In the UK and Europe, from Bella Union: https://bellaunion.greedbag.com/buy/thank-your-lucky-stars-4/ From Amazon: https://amzn.com/B016B0FL3I From iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/thank-your-lucky-stars/id1047853068 On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7zPfNw88t2Xv2nVXWKqQls

The Top 30 Records of 2015

In this, the last day of 2015, we at Transverso Media have compiled our list of the top 30 records that were released in the past year. What are yours?

30. Wilco - Star Wars

29. The Dead Weather - Dodge and Burn

28. Cage the Elephant - Tell Me I'm Pretty

27. Autre Ne Veut - Age of Transparency

26. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Style

25. Jamie xx - In Colour

24. Waxahatchee - Ivy Tripp

23. Sleater-Kinney - No Cities To Love

22. Destroyer - Poison Season

21. Natalie Prass - Natalie Prass

20. Grimes - Art Angels

19. Sufjan Stevens - Carrie & Lowell

18. Julien Baker - Sprained Ankle

17. Youth Lagoon - Savage Hills Ballroom

16. Beirut - No No No

15. Gardens & Villa - Music For Dogs

14. Big Grams - Big Grams

13. Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit

12. Beach House - Depression Cherry

11. Mac DeMarco - Another One

10. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

9. Foals - What Went Down

8. Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color

7. of Montreal - Aureate Gloom

6. Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Multi-Love

5. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear

4. Hot Chip - Why Make Sense?

3. Beach House - Thank Your Lucky Stars

Thank Your Lucky Stars acts as both an extension of and pivot point for Beach House’s career as a whole. Many may want the band to actively change in a progressive way, but the band chooses to continually broaden their sound in the most familiar and microscopic ways possible instead. Perhaps one of the best integration of all five preceding albums, you hear the metronome, drums are crisper, individual instruments are audible, and Victoria Legrand’s lyrics are unexpectedly discernible at certain points. It's what works for them, and its afforded Beach House the ability to carve out a dream-pop legacy (and avoid becoming a caricature) on their own terms.

2. Majical Cloudz - Are You Alone?

Are You Alone? takes off where the Montreal duo’s preceding Impersonator left off; a paradox of bare-bones, minimalist soundscapes ebbing with lush depth that are somehow simultaneously tranquilizing and uplifting. Welsh’s immaculately vulnerable monologues and unflinching vocals are gently bold, and they drive their synth lullabies forward with severe care. It's Welsh at his most overbearing, and yet his tight grip is irresistible. Calculatedly organic, passionately controlled, it’s a journal reading in a dream.

1. Tame Impala - Currents

Currents is the most adventurous, interesting, and well-produced collection of songs Kevin Parker has created thus far, sitting atop Tame Impala's discography as the most mature and painstakingly crafted iteration in their twisted psych-pop world. From the lush synth tracks that bubble through the mix to his effortless, washed out vocals, every sound is rendered with the utmost care. Currents proves Parker is unable to stick with a certain sound, forever looking for new ways to evolve his ideas and push his project beyond what was expected when Innerspeaker first hit the shelves.

Beach House Make Small but Meaningful Changes on 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'

Plenty of landmark events have happened in the two-month span between August and October of 2015. Facebook announced their intent to roll out a “dislike” button, and social curmudgeons everywhere rejoice. Summer sports aficionados sat on the edge of their seats as the Minnesota Lynx capped off the 2015 WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association) season with a championship. And most unfortunately, Donald Trump is still spewing asinine commentary along the campaign trail.

Pop culture potpourri aside, there may be no other event more uncharacteristically monumental than Beach House’s two album releases in as many months’ time. The dream-state, shoe-gazing nature of the Baltimore duo works wonderfully for the multiple year breaks in the band’s discography, with more than three years passing between Beach House’s Bloom beauty in 2012 and this past August’s Depression Cherry LP. So when Beach House announced the release of their second 2015 record, Thank Your Lucky Stars, for October 16, 2015, the indie world let out an exuberantly passive huzzah.

After the predictable (though enjoyable) sameness that was Depression Cherry, Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally’s assurance that TYLS was a departure from the typical Beach House approach seemed to enliven many that this may in fact be the band’s best work yet. That “departure” may have been a bit of a misnomer in regard to most people’s assumption that “departure” in fact equals “different,” when in fact, that was not the case. The press release explains:

“Thank Your Lucky Stars was written after Depression Cherry from July 2014 - November 2014 and recorded during the same session as Depression Cherry. The songs came together very quickly and were driven by the lyrics and the narrative. In this way, the record feels very new for us, and a great departure from our last few records. Thematically, this record often feels political. It’s hard to put it into words, but something about the record made us want to release it without the normal ‘campaign.’ We wanted it to simply enter the world and exist.”

Despite the ample explanations that accompany the record’s release, TYLS is still an enigma. The band’s insistence that it isn’t a Depression Cherry companion becomes difficult to grasp on tracks like “Majorette” and “She’s So Lovely,” with both tracks moving in broad strokes that resemble both Depression Cherry and Teen Dream. The “classic” Beach House metronomic sound echoes in the background of virtually every song.

That being said, there are songs on TYLS that act as the enviable marriage of the albums ultra-lo-fi beginnings and more recent endeavors, such as “Elegy to the Void.” Perhaps one of the best integration of all five preceding albums, you hear the metronome, drums are crisper, individual instruments are audible, and Legrand’s lyrics are unexpectedly discernible at certain points. Other songs avoid becoming heavy handed shoe-gaze with tired pop banality, such as “Common Girl” which seems to focus on one central, wretched character: “She makes movies where she cries on cue / She still lives downtown…” and “Takes the pills and hides the notices / Cartoon rings of ill will.” TYLS is miles away from tropisms like “I’ll take care of you…”

All in all, Thank Your Lucky Stars acts as an extension of Depression Cherry in a lot of ways, as well as pivot point for Beach House’s career as a whole – many may want the band to actively change in a progressive way but the band chooses to continually broaden their sound in the most familiar and microscopic ways possible instead. It's what works for Legrand and Scally, and its afforded Beach House the ability to carve out a dream-pop legacy (and avoid becoming a caricature) on their own terms.