Rating: 8.5/10

Highlights: Levitation, Sparks, Bluebird, Days of Candy 

“There’s a place I want to take you,” whispers Beach House singer Victoria Legrand on Depression Cherry’s opener, “Levitation.” “When the unknown will surround you.” Where is this place? Who knows, but Legrand does a good job selling it to you. The song is a whimsical journey through teenage love, a longing for youth, and overall, a desire to move away into some magical land, to levitate. “Take my hand as our bodies lift up slowly.”

It makes for the perfect opener for the fifth Beach House album. The Baltimore-born(!) duo of Legrand and Alex Scally have been pumping out dream pop for nearly a decade now, finally “hitting it big” with their album, Bloom, back in 2012. Even if you’re not totally familiar with the prior work of Beach House, you, such as myself, should be able to recognize that there’s something totally alluring about them. Maybe it was that really minimalistic but incredible album cover for Bloom. Or maybe it’s just their general atmosphere, an aura that surrounds them and their music that’s just, I don’t know, pretty? Captivating?

Take the second track, “Sparks,” for example. “Sparks” is different from the rest of the album, no doubt about that, but it is also the beginning of the trip “Levitation” invited you on. It opens with a droning wash of Legrand’s vocal samples, which are later accompanied by a jagged guitar riff. Once the actual vocals kick in, anyone who has scratched the surface of 1990s “shoegaze” rock will recognize the influence of My Bloody Valentine. But it doesn’t feel nearly as alienating as MBV upon first listen; it’s inviting, even though the lyrics tell fragmented tales of “houses melting down” and the fates of people “that never shared before.” The song ends with a plea for you to “make it!” Pretty inspiring stuff — Beach House wants you to do something. Don’t “follow all the rules.” Instead, “realize there’s something in your eyes.” Maybe there’s too much quoting going on here, but this is the effect that Depression Cherry has on you; they have taken you to that unknown place from before. They want you to listen to them.

To continue our theme of travel and strange places, we have Space Song, which is exactly what it sounds like. The song is a bit glitchy and just feels sort of “alien,” with a sort of distance throughout. We seem to touch a bit on the subject of a deteriorating relationship of sorts, one that isn’t necessarily doomed, but a bit aimless. But with such choppy lyrics in this track, who knows what it is actually about? This track is centered more on feeling than lyricism, even more so than the first two. Beyond Love deals with romance a bit more clearly, though. The love described in this track is intense: “I’m gonna tear off all the petals from the rose that’s in your mouth,” but it’s all a fantasy, with our character here searching for that feeling that goes “beyond love.”

10:37 is an awkward piece with its repetitive and pretty basic backing track coupled by some really broken up lyrics this time (the bridge here is “Chances are/10:37/House made of the dawn/Disappears.) Sure, it’s not bad, but it’s definitely not the most memorable cut from the album. PPP, on the other hand, stands out for just how pure it sounds. It’s the kind of dreamy, romantic song that would go perfectly in a movie soundtrack, conjuring up beautiful pictures of looking into somebody’s eyes and asking “are you ready for this life?” There’s an acknowledgement that things could go wrong and that the couple is skating on thin ice, but for now, they’re “tracing figure eights” on it. Wildflower does not put an end to that sensuality at all, in which we’re introduced to a person that is absolutely mesmerized by their own dreams and ambitions but still needs a companion to assure them they’re not losing their mind. “Baby, I’m yours,” Legrand says.

“Bluebird” focuses on human nature being beyond our control, repeating an idea from “Levitation” where things change way too fast, perhaps even “before they are over.” These ideas are built around a beautiful instrumental, and a chorus proclaiming to this titular bird that they will never be captured. The closing track, “Days of Candy,” bookends the album perfectly. From the beginning to about halfway through the 6-minute epic, we’re treated to an almost a capella song, with a choir backing Legrand, who sings just as delicately and syrup-y sweet as ever. But if you listen, you’ll hear a little electronic glitch that becomes gradually more and more prominent before taking over the song entirely and pushing us, yet again, into a new place. “Just like that, it’s gone,” Legrand laments. “I know it comes too soon./The universe is riding off with you.” We’re back home, and Depression Cherry is coming to a close. Wherever Beach House wanted to take us, well, we went there.

All in all, Depression Cherry is an experience. You really do feel like you went to space and got to watch the Earth unfold from afar, you saw heartbreak but you saw love, you saw yourself grow up. It’s the kind of music you really just have to listen to when you’re kind of tired. Chill out, lie down, and close your eyes. With the help of Beach House, you might just levitate for a moment.