Once Twice Melody

On June 30, 2017, the band released the compilation album B-Sides and Rarities, which was done after realizing that they had many non-album songs that were either previously unreleased or were hard to find. They also stated that releasing the 14-track compilation album helped them "clean the creative closet, put the past to bed, and start anew." On May 11, 2018, Beach House released their seventh studio album 7 (2018), where they wanted to reassess their old methods, limiting their writing to arrangements that they were able to perform live and eventually deciding to follow what came naturally, adding that they let their creative spirits determine the album's feeling. After releasing 7, the band began recording their next album at Apple Orchard Studio in Baltimore. It was then announced in February 2021 that they would contribute to arts company Meow Wolf's interactive exhibition Omega Mart, releasing a short film titled "Marin's Dreams" on April 22, 2021. In the same month, guitarist Alex Scally revealed, in an interview with Rolling Stone, that him and lead vocalist Victoria Legrand were thinking of working on an eighth album, adding that they would "like to get there". On November 9, 2021, the band officially announced their eighth album as Once Twice Melody, and stated that it would be released in four chapters throughout four months. In a September 2021 interview with 101.9 KINK FM, the band revealed that they were working on their album during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that it would be released in 2022. Regarding its recording process, while the duo were writing the album's songs and their melodies, they noticed a high usage in string synthesizers and had experimented with strings on various songs to see if they "wanted" them. Live string arrangements were handled by David Campbell; along with those, live drums were recorded in Los Angeles, with the album's mixing being handled by four mixing engineers, including Alan Moulder. ==Composition==

Once Twice Melody is a double album, with its material being described as dream pop, and chamber pop. Scally stated that they split the songs into four chapters based on "the energy of the music [and] the lyrics". According to Legrand, the album features "a lot of love inside of it", as well as "a sacredness of nature"; with lyrical themes revolving around self-destruction and romance, she also described the album as having "multiple little universes inside it". ==Promotion and release==

The first chapter for Once Twice Melody, Pink Funeral, was released on November 10, 2021, with the title track being released as its lead single on the same day. Its second chapter, New Romance, was released on December 8, 2021, with the third chapter, Masquerade, being released on January 19, 2022. "Hurts to Love" was surprised released as a standalone single on February 14, 2022, to coincide with Valentine's Day, making it the album's second single. Once Twice Melody was released in full for digital download and streaming, with the addition of cassette, CD and LP releases, on February 18, 2022, through Sub Pop and Bella Union Lyric animations for each song were also uploaded onto YouTube. Once Twice Melody debuted atop the US Billboard Top Album Sales chart, with 20,300 copies sold in its first week; in addition it debuted atop the US Top Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Top Vinyl Albums charts. It also debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200 album chart with 24,000 album-equivalent units, adding their fourth top-20 entry on the chart. "Superstar" was later sent to US radio on April 4, 2022, as its third single, while the title track peaked at number 15 on the US Adult Alternative Airplay chart. To support the album, the band embarked the Once Twice Melody tour, which began on February 18, 2022, in Pittsburgh and ended on July 24, 2022, in Washington, D.C.. ==Critical reception==

Once Twice Melody was released to universal acclaim from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 84, based on 22 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Heather Phares claimed that, "Though Once Twice Melody is unapologetically lush even by Beach House's standards, the duo uses space creatively to express the beauty in sadness." Stevie Chick of Mojo called it the band's "grandest vision yet", praising the "impassive beauty" of Legrand's vocals and comparing them to "'O Superman'-era Laurie Anderson serenades, or as if someone programmed AI to sing like Judee Sill." Jason Anderson of Uncut commended the "stunning" cinematic quality of the first chapter and praised the album's "unexpected elements" for deftly counterbalancing the "grandeur and glamour from becoming sickly sweet." Uncut concluded that the album's "greatness lies not in its hugeness – it's in the duo's ability to create music that possesses the same intimacy regardless of its scope." ==Track listing==

• Beach House – arrangement, performance; production, engineering; art direction • Victoria Legrand • Alex Scally • James Barone • James Barone – live drums (writing, performance) • Michael Scally – guitar solo (3) • Wheatie Mattiasich – additional vocals (9) • Rebecca Morrin – additional vocals (9) • David Campbell – live strings arrangement • Nick Tveitbakk – live drums engineering (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12–14, 18) • Trevor Spencer – live drums engineering (2–4, 6–9, 11), mixing (5, 11) • Gabe Burch – live strings engineering • Travis Warner – live strings engineering • Johnny Morgan – assistant live drums engineering (2–4, 6–9, 11) • Alan Moulder – mixing (1–4, 6–8, 10, 12, 16, 18) • Caesar Edmunds – mixing (9, 13, 15, 17) • Dave Fridmann – mixing (14) • Mike Fridmann – assistant mixing (14) • Greg Calbi – mastering • Steve Fallone – mastering • Jeff Kleinsmith – art direction, design • Nicholas Law – inside heart art ==Charts==