Bloom (Beach House album)

. Beach House began writing and recording their third studio album in 2009, which would serve as a follow-up to their second studio album Devotion (2008). In the midst of doing so, they were offered a contract signing with American record label Sub Pop on September of that year, whose cash infusion would allow the duo to work with producer Chris Coady, who would then contribute on production for the album. With this deal, they also announced their third studio album Teen Dream (2010) and its slated release through the label, marking their departure from Carpark Records, where they released their first two studio albums. it saw an official release through Sub Pop on January 26, 2010, becoming their first album release through the label. It was met with critical acclaim upon release. Teen Dream was also a commercial success, selling over 137,000 units by May 2012, according to Nielsen SoundScan. they were going to wait for the writing procedure of their next album to be inspired. ==Writing and recording==

(pictured), where Bloom was recorded within a period of nine weeks in 2011. Beach House conceptualized some ideas for Bloom while and after recording Teen Dream (2010). In March 2011, like they have done with their previous albums, they began writing Bloom in their hometown, Baltimore. A portion of the writing was done in between various sound checks and "myriad" experiences while on tour for two years. this track, along with "Other People", were previously performed on different live shows in 2011. "Myth" was also written in 2011, with "Troublemaker" reportedly being written on the same day as the former. While writing "Lazuli", Legrand said that the word "lazuli" seemed to have an insight, and also stated that she had always considered the word to be part of the "Beach House world". Other songs were also written years prior, stating that they have continued writing them since then, including the album's hidden track, "Wherever You Go", which was written during the Teen Dream recording sessions and wasn't finished up until the Bloom sessions; the duo stated that they loved the song but thought it was reminiscent of their previous style of music. Another song recorded during these sessions was "Equal Mind", which did not appear on the album and was instead released as the B-side to the physical single release of "Lazuli" after realizing that it had instrumental similarities to "Other People", specifically its tempo; due to this, they stating that it "did not fit" on the album. "Saturn Song", which is built around a piano loop recorded around this time, was another song being worked on during these sessions, which later saw an official release as part of the compilation album The Space Project (2014). These three tracks were later remastered and included on the duo's compilation album B-Sides and Rarities (2017). After writing a quantity of songs for the album, they recorded several demos in their practice space in their hometown. in which Chris Coady again handled production, as well as engineering and mixing, who was initially rumored to be the third member of Beach House, being their touring drummer since 2008. When the duo arrived to Sonic Ranch, they were surprised and pointed out that the studio complex had "almost exactly the same dimensions as Dreamland", where they recorded their previous album Teen Dream (2010). the entire album was recorded on a 24-track analog tape, which is a form of "staying true to the art of sound", and the duo bought their own instruments to the recording sessions, avoiding the usage of the studio's provided instruments. It has also been said that it took seven weeks or two months. with mixing also being handled at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, where it was initially rumored in January 2012 that Beach House had worked on the album. ==Musical style==

Bloom has been described as a dream pop album, with musical influences, which are found throughout separate tracks on the album, being labelled as shoegaze, winding pre-programmed tempos, amorphous drones and twinkling melodies. By sticking to this style, the duo leans away from their initial lo-fi and ambient music influences found within their earlier studio albums, now going more towards a "high-grade" pop attempt. Throughout the album, there are newer sounds and instrumental elements that were not included in the duo's previous albums, including an autoharp, synthesizers, pianos and live strings. Lindsay Zoladz of Pitchfork stated that the album features more "straightforward" lyrics, "yet they're somehow suggestive of larger things". Scally also discussed about the album's feeling and association of the color blue with an author at Vice, who envisioned their entire catalog with that exact color; Scally attributed this statement to the album's third track, "Lazuli". Some critics also noted the usage of field recordings that are used to seamlessly transition a majority of the songs on the album, including sounds of birds chirping and cars passing by. Stated in an interview with Pitchfork, there are a total of four recordings of such, with Scally revealing that one of them is the sound of a flock of coyotes. He had also stated in a separate interview that the songs "encompass a much bigger slice of life". ==Songs==

Bloom begins with its lead single, "Myth", which starts with a simple cowbell beat, along with a bass synth that begins playing before Legrand starts singing the first verse about 45 seconds in, "Drifting in and out, you see the road you're on". The song incorporates an "amalgam of sinuous guitars, glistening synths, galloping drums [and] hazy reverb". "Wild" is a mid-tempo, new wave-like track, "epic shoegazing" guitars, as well as reverb. Described as "brazen [and] epic", An indie pop number, Zack Kotzer and David Greenwald of The A.V. Club stated that it "shifts with ease from a driving riff to strolling arpeggios". centered around a synth pad and programmed drum machines, with Scally performing a guitar solo about two minutes in. a single guitar note and a "steadfast" drum beat is steadily repeated in the middle of the track, though it is also described to have a sound similar to a steel guitar. ==Packaging and title==

(pictured in 2011) by the duo. On March 20, 2012, the official album artwork for Bloom was revealed. Designed by Brian Roettinger, the artwork depicts a black-and-white polka dot pattern. For the artwork designing process, the duo kept a travelog of photographs taken in different formats, including some taken on a Polaroid and other digital cameras, and gave a set of photos to Roettinger for designing, who wanted it to be "purely iconographic". She also explained to The Line of Best Fit that their purpose of choosing the title was because of the "incredible forces" found within the album, adding that each track is more immensive "than [the tracks] on [Teen Dream] in terms of starting off in one place and ending up in another". In a different interview with The Village Voice, she explained the title as an "abstraction of many feelings" and that it was derived from feeling and a hypothesis of the word. Scally explained to Pitchfork that "the word ["bloom"] is like an object – we were thinking 'bloom,' 'doom.' It encapsulated tons: the bloom, the end of the bloom, and then coming back the next year. ==Release and sales==

in San Diego in July 1, 2012. Several months before releasing or beginning the promotion process for Bloom, Beach House were given an opportunity to distribute the album at various Starbucks stores, to which they eventually rejected after some consideration, with Legrand reiterating that this decision, among others for the duo, are done based on maintaining their fanbase. At around this time, the duo had reflected on their involvement in an overabundant amount of live sessions and photo shoots, with the outcome being "far below [their] personal artistic standards", instead deciding that they would only partake in persuasive activities that they were able to "control artistically and give substantial energy". The photo was later taken down, with Sub Pop stating that Electric Lady "jumped the gun" when publishing the photo, as confirmed by Chris Cantalini of Gorilla vs. Bear on Twitter. In February, it was reported that the duo's fourth studio album would drop on May 15 of the same year; its alleged tracklist was revealed and the album was reportedly titled Bloom. At around the same month, Bloom was leaked on the Internet, with Legrand recalling that their previous studio albums were also leaked in the past. On March 7, the duo would release the single "Myth" on their website as a free download. The next day, they would confirm the album's official release dates and track list, with "Myth" serving as its lead single. On May 6, 2012, Bloom was streamed in its entirety on NPR Music. Frank Nieto, a publicist for Sub Pop, chose NPR Music to publish the album's first stream, stating that it "legitimized [the duo] as an artist". Bloom was released officially on May 15 in North America though Sub Pop and Arts & Crafts México, on CD, double-LP and digital download formats. It was also released May 14 in Europe through Bella Union and May 18 in Australia though Mistletone. It ultimately debuted at number seven on the chart, selling 41,000 copies in its first week, becoming the duo's best selling album on the chart. It stayed on the chart for 11 weeks, making it their longest charting album to date. In addition, the album debuted at number one on the Independent Albums and Top Alternative Albums charts, remaining for 18 and seven weeks on both charts, respectively, and peaked at number three on the Top Rock Albums charts, charting for nine weeks. It also debuted at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart, further debuting within the top 20 in six other countries, which include Belgium's Flanders region (10), Canada (16), Denmark (8), Ireland (10), Norway (5), and Portugal (10). According to Mediatraffic, the album would sell over 100,000 copies worldwide by March 2013. ==Promotion==

Singles and music videos On March 7, 2012, Beach House released the lead single from Bloom, "Myth", on their website as a free download. The single garnered acclaim from music critics, who considered it another fascinating evolution in the duo's musical style. On April 12, 2023, "Myth" received a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting a total of 500,000 units sold in the United States, being the album's first song to receive a certification. On April 13, the album's second single "Lazuli" was leaked onto Dutch radio station 3voor12's website, shortly being taken down. On April 17, the duo officially released the single for streaming, initially on YouTube. It was later released as a 7-inch single on opaque-blue vinyl on April 21, 2012, Record Store Day, which was limited to 2,400 copies. The single release also included "Equal Mind" as its B-side. On June 6, the official music video for "Lazuli" was released. Directed by Allen Cordell, the video features "shadowy" perspectives of three strangers, with one of the environmental surroundings being a "psychedelic, outer-space realm". Featuring video direction from Johan Renck, the video consists of a series of "intense moments", including violent and sexual scenes. On January 1, 2013, New Year's Day, the duo released a music video for "New Year", which features time-lapse video recordings, which were filmed by Manuel Calderon, of the album's recording sessions at Sonic Ranch. The duo explained that it is "more of a home video thing" and thought that the video clips, cherished as memories, were suitable for this song. On February 4, 2013, the duo released Forever Still, a short film containing performances of four songs from the album ("Wild", "The Hours", "Wishes" and "Irene") throughout El Paso and Tornillo, Texas, where they recorded the album. Taking inspiration from Pink Floyd's Live at Pompeii concert film, the duo wanted to perform the songs in an abnormal setting without losing the spirit of their music and felt that the songs would better resonate in a transcendent scenery. On March 7, 2013, the duo released the music video for the track "Wishes", which was directed by Eric Wareheim of comedy duo Tim and Eric. This is the first collaborative project between Wareheim and the duo, with the former stating that the video's setting was influenced by Legrand's imagery, praising the duo as one of his favorites. The video features actor Ray Wise, who is seen performing the song at the halftime show of a surreal sports game. Rolling Stone listed it as the seventh best music video of 2013, while Pitchfork added it on their "Top Music Videos of 2013" list. Live performances in 2012. On March 8, 2012, alongside the album's confirmation, the duo announced the album's supporting tour dates in North America, with its start date being on May 4, at Charlottesville, and its end date on July 23, in New York City. They later added extra tour dates, spanning from July 1 to 21, with indie rock band Wild Nothing as openers for most of those dates. The setlist for their release show at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City on May 15, the same day Bloom was released, consisted of songs from the album and Teen Dream, as well as "Gila" and "Turtle Island" from their second album Devotion (2008); Daniel Franz performed the live drums throughout. On June 2, Beach House performed at Primavera Sound 2012, with their set consisting of windmills and a star-lit background, similar to those at their performance in New York City. They later performed their set at the Pitchfork Music Festival 2012 on July 15, which featured cityscape-like cardboard cutouts as a background behind them throughout. Soon after touring, dates for a supporting international fall tour, marketed as the Frightened Eyes tour, were announced, commencing on September 13, in Richmond, Virginia, and concluding on November 19, in Amsterdam. Aside from touring in 2012, the duo have also performed songs from Bloom on various talk shows; they performed "Myth" on Late Show with David Letterman on May 18, performing "Lazuli" on the show a week later. On July 2, they performed a live in-studio session on KCRW's radio program Morning Becomes Eclectic. On July 24, they performed "Wild" and "Wishes" on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, with the latter having a web-only exclusive performance instead. Soon after finishing touring that year, they announced an expansion of 2013 international tour dates, including stops at Australia and Japan, starting on December 30, at the former and concluding in Cincinnati on April 24, 2013. Throughout 2013, the duo also performed sets at various music festivals, including Coachella, Governors Ball, Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, and Øyafestivalen. In July 2014, the duo announced the Northern Exposure Tour, with concert dates taking place in Alaska and Canada; this was their first headlining tour to take place in those locations. ==Critical reception==

Bloom was met with universal acclaim from music critics upon release, with a majority praising its polished production, despite some criticism on it being superficial. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 78, based on 45 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Lindsay Zoladz of Pitchfork awarded the album the Best New Music accolade, praising the interplay between Legrand and Scally, writing that the two "sound in perfect sync", then supporting this claim by stating, "his nimble riffs punctuate her long, drawn-out notes to add depth and layered rhythm to the tracks". Harley Brown of Consequence of Sound gave Bloom a A− rating, stating that it "culminates six years and three albums of anticipatory ache with subtlety and meticulous song placement that unfolds if you let it", while BBC Music's Hari Ashurst felt that the album was the duo's best work thus far. Zack Kotzer and David Greenwald of The A.V. Club also gave the album an A−, saying "Bloom takes what worked before and intensifies it" and that with the record, "they have mastered their sultry formula". The album also received a perfect score of five stars by AllMusic, with Heather Phares stating that though it is not the duo's "most immediate music", its "challenging mix of heartbroken words and aloof sounds" are worthy of repeatability. Alex Denney of NME called it a "glittering return" and added that they are "increasingly clever at turning a melody inside out to evoke those moments of dizzy-making clarity". J. Pace of Under the Radar complimented the instrumental arrangements throughout and concluded that they "serve up these completely affecting but somehow ethereal moods you can't quite put your finger on". Maddy Costa of The Guardian criticized the album's lack of surprises, writing that "nothing happens to shatter the perfect surface, either within individual songs or across the album as a whole". In a negative review, Andy Gill of The Independent felt that Bloom was "pleasantly undemanding", noting that its overall momentum lessens after its openers, "Myth" and "Wild", and stating that it "just seems to evaporate away halfway through". Rankings Bloom has appeared on many year-end lists of critics ranking the best albums of 2012, several of them including it in their top 10: Magnet and Under the Radar included Bloom at number three, PopMatters and Obscure Sound at number four, Consequence of Sound, Gorilla vs. Bear, and Pitchfork at number seven. Further, the latter publication added the album on their list of The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far, appearing at number 53. Paste also named it the ninth best album of 2012, additionally including it on their list of the best albums of the first-half of the 21st century, appearing at number 70. Other publications included the album in their top 30, including AllMusic, Complex, Exclaim!, NME, No Ripcord, Rolling Stone, who also named album track "Other People" as the 19th best song of 2012, and Stereogum. Crack and Treble named it as one of the best albums of the 2010s. Bloom was nominated for Album of the Year at the 2013 Libera Awards. ==Track listing==

All lyrics written by Victoria Legrand; all music composed and arranged by Alex Scally and Legrand with assistance from Daniel Franz. ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from liner notes of Bloom. Beach House • Victoria Legrand – vocals, keyboards, organ, piano • Alex Scally – guitar, basses, piano, organ and keyboards, backing vocals; drum machine edits/programming Additional musicians • Daniel Franz – live drums and percussion • Joe Cueto – viola Production • Chris Coady – production, engineering, mixing • Beach House – production • Manuel Calderon – assistant engineering • Brooks Harlan – engineering • Phil Joly – assistant engineering • Joe LaPorta – mastering Artwork • Beach House – photography • Brian Roettinger – design ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Release history==