That's My Dad.

Top 50 Songs of 2012: #36, Beach House - Wild

Our father won’t come home, cause he is seeing double. 

Indie dream-pop darlings Beach House made a profound and delicately chiseled spot on their 4th album: “Bloom”. Without a doubt, “Bloom” landed on many listener’s ‘Album of the Year’ spot, the stand-out track was “Wild”: a timid and melodramatic narrative of fractured teenagers coping with broken relationships ubiquitous to them. Not only does it come decked with soothing breathy vocals and hypnotizing guitar tones, but uses its ingredients to produce a catchy and emotionally haunting summation of Beach House’s entire style. 

Wild Nothing - Nocturne

A slice of humble shoe-gaze indie dream pop with a dollop of orchestral sounds, drizzled with reverb sonic textures and served with a tasteful, lite dose of romantic lyricism. Wild Nothing’s “Nocturne” makes for a sophisticated treat for those with an ethereal set of sonic taste buds. (7/10)

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DIIV - Oshin

Urban dreams of tropical getaways galore on DIIV’s (formerly known as DIVE) latest LP, “Oshin”: a reverb-doused shoegaze dream-pop record filled with blurry summer audio textures and lush melodies akin to chill-wave darlings like Washed Out or experimental projects like Lotus Plaza. (8/10)

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Craft Spells - Gallery EP

Dear Craft Spells,

About a year ago, I reviewed your debut album “Idle Labor” and I did not like it. You guys may or may not have read it, but I recall your official band tumblr liking that post; an instance that left me red-cheeked with embarrassment. I was a young and foolish boy, one still getting the grip of reviewing music. I still am that boy, just with a year of life under my belt and in that, I came to know, understand and adore “Idle Labor” through the myriad of romantic moments I shared with life in the past year.

So now I own a vinyl copy of the album, I hum your melodies when I go for walks in attractive metropolitan cities and lace fragments of your lyrics within daily conversation with my girlfriend. I hope this can be understood as a truce or a formal apology for misunderstanding the sincere intentions your music has and the decadent lo-fi nostalgia it lives in.

As for my thoughts on your new EP, “Gallery”, I find it just as charming and starry-eyed when I truly got a grip on “Idle Labor”. The overall instrumentation sounds like you guys have settled into a comfortable groove and things have ventured further into their roots. The reverb is heavier, the melodies are hazier but everything remains vivid and realized even through the added level of sonic fog. Heavier doses of said effects, however, tend to clash with the songwriting, leaving gems like “After the Moment” and “For the Ages” left to be desired. Yet, I find “Gallery” to be an ideal, concise work to display Craft Spells’ style and intent. It offers a slice of familiar retro-pop with a distinguished twist well enough to garner Craft Spells a name brand status.

Thanks for all the music,
Zain (Writer of That’s My Dad)

Beach House - Bloom

If the world of independent music were a diner in the ’50s, Beach House would be it’s own ice cream flavor; orange creme, to be exact. Since their adored 2009 LP “Teen Dream” dazzled listeners, both easy-going and nit-picky, this dream pop duo has undoubtedly taken city and seashore dwellers by storm. Already known their profoundly lush sonic textures and eloquent technical abilities, it comes to no surprise that Beach House didn’t want to change a thing on their latest album: “Bloom”. In fact, Beach House revisits the gorgeous sonic sculpture created on “Teen Dream” and chisels out an extra layer of detail, texture and effect. This remodeling ends up making “Bloom” their most thematic album to date, constructed with punctual compositions and a set of flourishing lyrics to match. These details, while bound with comprehensive traits, are intensely subtle, challenging and hard to wrap your head around, especially to those unfamiliar with Beach House’s sound. Unlike the instant click you’d feel on “Teen Dream”, there is a serious trade-off of patience involved with “Bloom”. From the nautical-sounding opener “Myth” with its glistening guitar tones to the equally heartwarming/breaking “Wild” composed of nostalgic teenage memories, “Bloom” proves to be the most rewarding listening experience of 2012. (8/10)

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