Teen Dream
| Teen Dream | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Beach House | ||||
| Released | January 26, 2010 | |||
| Recorded | September 2009 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock, dream pop | |||
| Length | 48:40 | |||
| Label | Sub Pop and Bella Union | |||
| Producer | Chris Coady | |||
| Beach House chronology | ||||
| ||||
Teen Dream is the third studio album by American dream pop duo Beach House, released in January 2010. Produced by Chris Coady, Teen Dream is Beach House's Sub Pop debut. The album was well received by the music press, who hailed it as one of the best albums of 2010.
NME Magazine included it in their 2013 edition of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. [1] The album was also included in the 2011 edition of the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.
In August 2014, Pitchfork Media ranked the album the 5th best album of the 2010's so far.[2]
Recording
The recording of Teen Dream took place after extensive touring of the Beach House's previous album, Devotion (2008). According to Legrand, while on tour "we definitely stored up a lot of energy and ideas that we had. By the end of the touring cycle we couldn’t wait to get back home to start working on the next record. In some ways, touring is a restraint on the creative side, because it’s hard to write on the road. So you just have to wait, and sit on this anticipation until the time you’re able to spend days, weeks, months working on something."[3] The duo strove to create a more "sophisticated" album and, according to the group, the demos of this record were comparable to the final tracks that made up their previous record. Also, their use of extensive reverb was held back significantly. According to Alex Scally "There's very little reverb on the record".
Recording this album was considerably more expensive; Scally says, "Every bit of money we got, we spent. The recording was insanely expensive. Every single step of the way, we've just tried to go more, go further".[4]
Critical reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | (82/100) [5] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [6] |
| BBC Music | Positive [7] |
| The Boston Phoenix | [8] |
| Robert Christgau |  [9] |
| Drowned in Sound | (7/10) [10] |
| NME | (9/10) [11] |
| Pitchfork | (9.0/10) [12] |
| Q |  [13] |
| Spin | [14] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | [15] |
Reception for Teen Dream was very positive. Review aggregator Metacritic, which collates reviews from various publications, indicates a score of 82 out of 100 from 35 professional critics (indicating "Universal acclaim"). Many reviews commented on the change in sound including BBC Music, who stated that "the most unmistakeable sound on Teen Dream is that of a band truly finding its own voice".[7] Several publications focused on Legrand's vocals, with Rolling Stone calling the "dusky torch singing... excellent"[16] and The Boston Phoenix praising her voice as "coiling like smoke in the arches of the church". In her review of Teen Dream's followup album Bloom, Pitchfork's Lindsay Zoladz refers to Teen Dream as Beach House's "first great record."[17]
Teen Dream was named the 5th Best Album of 2010 by Pitchfork. In the publication's list of The Top 50 Albums of 2010, writer Stuart Berman points out the ubiquity of the album's sounds, stating "its billowy synth lines and sleigh-bell accents made it perfect winter listening. But the album made even more sense as the warm weather arrived—Teen Dream captures Beach House in the midst of a great thaw, the frosty surfaces melting away to reveal full-blooded passion".[18]
In Canada, Beach House was named Exclaim!'s No. 3 Pop & Rock Album of 2010.<ref name= Exclaim!'s Year in Review - Top Pop & Rock Albums of 2010>"Pop & Rock Year in Review". Exclaim!.</ref> Writer Dimitri Nasrallah said "Beach House's third album is sublime and singular; working through a creative high point, the duo hit their stride in the songwriting department."
Some reviews, however, were less complimentary. Granting Teen Dream a score of 2/5, The Guardian called the work "oddly icy and melodically a little ineffectual".[19] While The Austin Chronicle called the album "solid" and awarded it 3 stars, the review stated that the duo have "still got some gold dust to kick up".[20] The album was number 17 on Rolling Stone 's list of the 30 Best Albums of 2010.[21]
The album debuted 43 on the Billboard 200 with 13,000 copies sold in its first week. It has sold a total of 140,000 copies as of May 2012.[22]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Zebra" | 4:48 | |
| 2. | "Silver Soul" | 4:58 | |
| 3. | "Norway" | 3:54 | |
| 4. | "Walk in the Park" | 5:22 | |
| 5. | "Used to Be" | 3:58 | |
| 6. | "Lover of Mine" | 5:06 | |
| 7. | "Better Times" | 4:23 | |
| 8. | "10 Mile Stereo" | 5:03 | |
| 9. | "Real Love" | 5:20 | |
| 10. | "Take Care" | 5:48 | |
Total length: |
48:40 | ||
| iTunes Bonus Track | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | ||||||||
| 11. | "Baby" | 2:59 | ||||||||
A special edition DVD package was released containing either a CD or Vinyl and a DVD, featuring psychedelic visuals for each track from Teen Dream, produced by a separate director.
Sales chart performance
| Chart (2010) | Peak position[23] |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 | 43 |
| US Billboard Alternative Albums | 6 |
References
- ↑ http://consequenceofsound.net/2013/10/the-top-500-albums-of-all-time-according-to-nme/
- ↑ http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/9465-the-top-100-albums-of-2010-2014/. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ Carew, Anthony. "Interview: Victoria Legrand of Beach House". About.com. Retrieved 13 June 2013.
- ↑ Interviews: Beach House | Features | Pitchfork Pitchfork Media - interview by Joe Colly.
- ↑ Critic Reviews for Teen Dream. Metacritic. Retrieved 7 February 2012.
- ↑ Teen Dream | Beach House | AllMusic AllMusic - album review by Heather Phares.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 BBC - Music - Review of Beach House - Teen Dream BBC Music - album review by David Sheppard.
- ↑ Beach House | Teen Dream - CD Reviews The Boston Phoenix - album review by Michael Brodeur.
- ↑ Consumer Guide - Teen Dream
- ↑ Beach House - Teen Dream / Releases / Releases // Drowned In Sound Drowned in Sound - album review by Andrzej Lukowski.
- ↑ NME Album Reviews - Beach House - NME.COM NME Magazine - album review by Laura Snapes.
- ↑ Beach House: Teen Dream | Album Reviews | Pitchfork Pitchfork Media - album review by Mark Richarson.
- ↑ Q Magazine - February 2010, Issue 283.
- ↑ Beach House, 'Teen Dream' (Sub Pop) | SPIN Spin Magazine - album review.
- ↑ Beach House - Teen Dream | Music Reviews | Tiny Mix Tapes Tiny Mix Tapes - album review by Larry Fitzmaurice.
- ↑ Teen Dream | Album Reviews | Rolling Stone Rolling Stone Magazine - album review.
- ↑ Zoladz, Lindsay. "Beach House: Bloom | Album Reviews". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
- ↑ Staff Lists: The Top 50 Albums of 2010 | Features | Pitchfork Pitchfork: 2010 End of Year List - article by Stuart Berman.
- ↑ Hughes, Tom (2010-01-21). "Beach House: Teen Dream". The Guardian (London).
- ↑ Beach House - Music Review - Austin Chronicle Austin Chronicle - album review by Audra Schroeder.
- ↑ "The 30 Best Albums of 2010". Rolling Stone (December 25, 2010). Retrieved 18th January, 2011.
- ↑ http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/sales_ur.cgi
- ↑ Teen Dream | Beach House | AllMusic AllMusic - Charts & Awards.
External links
| ||||||||||