(Forgive me if today’s reviews of my three favorite albums of 2008 aren’t among the best pieces of criticism ever posted here.  But, you know, I’m hungover after hitting the Zinfandel too hard at last night’s Daily Dose Christmas party, it’s Friday, etc.)

2.
Beach House
Devotion
Carpark Records

Like the wonderful Marine Girls, Beach House are a duo with a deceptively summery name.  If the name brings to mind summertime frolic and bikini-clad co-eds playing volleyball, think again; this Beach House is like a summer place in the middle of February, with ominous waves crashing in the distance and maybe someone performing some sort of pagan rite on the front lawn.  Singer-organist Victoria Legrand doesn’t sing so much as read incantations, and Alex Scally’s languid guitars are in no hurry to push her along.

The slowness is the Baltimore pair’s appeal.  These might not be the kind of songs you get stuck in your head all day, but they are the kind you want to listen to again and again.  Well-crafted and often beautiful, and they linger not for the sake of being pretty, but more as a gentle reminder that sometimes there’s no reason to be in such a damn hurry all the time.  Songs start abruptly and fade out surprisingly quickly, to make sure you’re paying attention, but they all follow the same formula:  gentle guitars, Churchy organs, Legrand singing like she’s got all day to tell you something.

Her voice isn’t exactly stellar, but that’s an asset.  As she reaches for high notes in Heart of Chambers and Astronaut, you can’t help but think that she has something really fundamental about life figured out.  Something Zen-like.  “Please, be my baby,” she sings in Astronaut.  “Don’t mean maybe.  Or not.”  I sometimes wonder what America would be like if its millions of office workers got to listen to albums like this instead of the aging crap that fills most adult contemporary playlists.

Devotion came out in February and I listened to it a lot for the first couple of months, putting it away once it got warm outside; then, when fall returned, it didn’t leave my CD player for probably six weeks.  It’s that kind of album.

Watch!  Beach House, Gila
Beach House, Heart of Chambers

Tags: albums of the year, beach house

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