Depression Cherry

On May 15, 2012, Beach House released their fourth studio album Bloom, which was supported by its successful lead single "Myth". The album attained critical praise from several publications, additionally being named one of the best albums of 2012, and commercial success, debuting at number seven on the US Billboard 200 with 41,000 copies sold. After releasing the album and completing touring for Bloom, the group took a six-month break. Uncertain about their future, singer/keyboardist Victoria Legrand said, "I didn't feel creative at all... I just thought well, maybe I'll never have another musical idea." She added, "I just personally felt I needed a couple of months of just not doing anything, I didn't have thoughts." ==Recording and production==

. (pictured) Beach House came up with a portion of musical ideas for Depression Cherry in 2011, subsequently writing songs for the album in Baltimore, their hometown, between 2012 and 2014; "10:37" was one of the first songs to be written during this period. The album was recorded at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana over two months, from November 2014 to January 2015. It was co-produced by Chris Coady, who worked on the band's previous two records, Teen Dream (2010) and Bloom. Prior to joining the band in the studio, they sent him phone recordings of some of their in-progress songs. Additionally, the song contains a running vocal loop that was "accidentally" captured at a soundcheck in Bristol, England.{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2015/07/01/418896007/hear-sparks-a-new-song-by-beach-house |title=Hear 'Sparks,' A New Song By Beach House : All Songs Considered|date=July 1, 2015 |access-date=November 5, 2023 ==Musical style==

According to the band, Depression Cherry is a return to the simpler style of dream pop from their first two albums, stating in a press release on the Sub Pop website, that "live drums play [...] a far lesser role" and that within the album, they "continue to let ourselves evolve while fully ignoring the commercial context in which we exist". Kevin Warwick of The A.V. Club commented that several tracks from the album are "constructed on rudimentary programmed rhythms as opposed to live studio drumming". The album's opener, "Levitation", begins with a "high-F♯ drone" which crossfades into a "lovely saturated D chord", as well as a "tap-tapping electronic rhythm", with the song itself being said to succeed the 2012 track "Irene", featured on the band's previous album Bloom. The loop is then interrupted by a distorted guitar, thus being described as a shoegaze track. Throughout the entire song, a distorted organ and percussion are also used. Transitioning onto the third track, "Space Song", it opens with an organ sound and leaps into a sliding guitar and an "8-bit keyboard" arpeggio which run throughout the entire track. ==Promotion and release==

in September 2015. On May 26, 2015, Beach House announced Depression Cherry along with tour dates supporting the album. On July 9, 2015, Depression Cherry was leaked on the internet through a data breach on music site Spin. On August 19, nine days before the album's release, NPR Music made a stream of the album available online. The album was released on August 28, 2015, for digital download, CD, LP and cassette formats, though Sub Pop in North America The album debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, with 27,000 copies sold in its first week. It also debuted within the top 20 in eight other countries, which are Belgium's Flanders region (13), The follow-up album was additionally written from July to November 2014 and recorded at the same time as Depression Cherry. On March 6, 2026, Depression Cherry received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales of 1,000,000 certified units in the United States. The single was subsequently released on July 1, 2015, alongside its accompanying visualizer, which was released on YouTube; On August 6 of the same year, "PPP" and "Beyond Love" were released as the album's second and third singles. The album's three supporting singles were later published through the band's website and could be accessed through the "Single Finder" feature, which allows a user to choose three songs, particularly their favorite ones, from the band's past catalog and depending on their choices, it determines which single would likely be their favorite. "Space Song", the album's third track, was initially released as a promotional single in 2015. The song became a sleeper hit, when about six years later, in 2021, the song attained virality on TikTok and later received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on January 2022. The song was later featured in the Netflix-original television series Wednesday (2022), appearing in its third episode. After its appearance on the series, the song earned over four million streams in the United States, within the November 25–December 1, 2022, tracking week. Following the tracking week, it debuted at number 20 on the US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, On April 12, 2023, the song was certified double-platinum by the RIAA, for sales of 2,000,000 certified units in the United States. ==Critical reception==

Depression Cherry received mostly positive reviews from contemporary music critics, with a majority complimenting its musical arrangements and direction, while some criticism drew towards its repetitive structures. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 34 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Eric Renner Brown of Entertainment Weekly complimented Legrand's vocal structures and the instrumentals within the album, calling them "exquisite". Awarding the album with the "Best New Music" accolade, Jayson Greene of Pitchfork praised the album's instrumentals, classifying them as "ethereal", and concluded that the band had "never sounded exactly this full and soaring before". Tim Jonze of The Guardian stated that the album "lacks the bigger pop moments of their last two albums, Bloom and Teen Dream", although he approves the band's musical approach and stated that the band "increase their impressive ability to sound like they’re whispering each song". AllMusic's Heather Phares likened the album's musical approach to the band's earlier studio albums and said that it's "a grower that demands and rewards close listening -- especially under headphones". Will Hermes of Rolling Stone called it "A formula that might seem limiting feels instead like it can contain entire worlds". In a mixed review, John Calvert of NME claimed that the album can "becoming increasingly uninteresting", though he further stated that "the duo stick closely to their signature steady pacing and two-piece dynamic, with diminishing returns". Accolades Depression Cherry was named as one of the best albums of 2015 by several music publications, including Blare Magazine, Diffuser.fm, and Under the Radar, who placed it in their top 10, while other publications such as No Ripcord, Paste, Pretty Much Amazing, and Sputnikmusic have placed it in their top 20. ==Track listing==

All lyrics written by Victoria Legrand; all music composed and arranged by Beach House. ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Depression Cherry. Beach House • Alex Scally • Victoria Legrand Additional musicians • Graham Hill – live drums and percussion on all tracks except "Sparks" and "PPP" • Chris Bear – live drums on "Sparks" and "PPP" • Voice/choir majors at Pearl River Community College – vocal chorus on "Days of Candy" • Lane Stewart • Lydia Howard • Lindsey Strahan • Mallory Cumberland • Ethan Martin • Jacob Cochran • LaDona Tyson – organization • Archie Rawls – organization Production • Beach House – production, mixing • Chris Coady – production, mixing on all tracks except "Beyond Love" • David Tolomei – engineering • Jay Wesley – assistant engineering • Shane Wesley – "all around dude" • Morgan Stratton – assistant engineering • Manuel Calderon – mixing on "Beyond Love" • Greg Calbi – mastering Artwork • Brian Roettinger – design • Beach House – photography ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==