Beach House’s release of ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ comes hot on the heels of the recent release, in August, of Depression Cherry. The obvious question to ask is are these tracks, that were recorded at the same time as Depression Cherry, offcuts, rejects or just a glorious encore? Sadly, the former feeling dominates with slightly darker undertones in this album than the former. Depression Cherry was an excellent album in the sense of taking you somewhere you are not, unexpectedly. But ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ does tend towards more of the same from Beach House, so we are not losing so much. The music is, again, beautifully presented and put together but the lyrics are still total nonsense, what does this mean from ‘Elegy to the Void’?
Black clock looming distant
You’re a great white
They were never listening
Waiting for the light to come againDeep beneath the waves
Lilies of the day
Garden of remains
Diamond maiden chained
Maybe the “black clock looming” is death but Victoria Legrand could make it a bit easier for me. I’m enjoying the Beach House renaissance this year so I should not complain too much, maybe they were having so much fun the couldn’t resist recording more music. And why not and now they can tour with two albums! Standout tracks for me include ‘One Thing’ and ‘Somewhere Tonight’, with more rambling lyrics. Maybe I should conclude this is an encore.
Don’t be put off by the slightly bizarre album cover that is reminiscent of the BBC test card. This is good fare but if you’re buying one Beach House album this year Depression Cherry is my choice, but in the streaming world we are totally spoilt rotten.
Thank Your Lucky Stars Track Rating
Majorette ***
She’s So Lovely ***
All your Yeahs ***
One Thing ****
Common Girl ****
The Traveller ***
Elegy to the Void ****
Rough Song ***
Somewhere Tonight ****
9 Tracks, 40:51 minutes
Released October 2015