Image by Michael Boyd
Beach House shows Chicago a “lovelier” evening
March 26, 2008, at Schubas
By Britt Julious
Published: March 28th, 2008 | 11:50am
The mild, seasonal weather in Chicago was a welcome complement to the lush melodies of Baltimore duo Beach House, who played to a packed Schubas on March 26, 2008.
Band members Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally, joined by a backing drummer from the night’s opener Papercuts, took to the stage in glittery, all-white costumes. Scally, clad in a crisp suit, and Legrand, in an ethereal and sequined gown, opened the set with “Wedding Bell” off of their latest album, Devotion (Carpark). Off the bat, Legrand’s invocation of each song lyric was powerful. During the first chorus, as she sang, “You're ringing the only wedding bell,” the members of the audience, already clamoring close to the front of the stage, began to sway back and forth to the bouncy rhythm.
As the show continued, a couple of photographers — including one from Venus Zine — were surprisingly called out from a group of rowdy crowd members. “No flash!” one man yelled, to which another soon replied, “Yeah!”
Legrand, somewhat perplexed, said, “I guess there’s no more pictures now.” Any other photography throughout the night was limited, at best. As the night progressed, it was apparent that, similar to the warm and visceral tone of Beach House’s songs, only a truly intimate experience was in order. Therefore, the flashes of a camera, especially a powerful SLR, would have diminished the wraithlike warmth that filled the room. The lyrics, heavily relying on use of the second-person voice, made each note Legrand sang feel as though her hopes and misery were a result of each individual audience member. The night was rapturous from the start.
The otherworldly qualities of the duo’s music translated effortlessly from record to the stage. As “D.A.R.L.I.N.G.” began, Legrand’s smooth, Janis Joplin-esque vocals were a perfect match to the flawless use of keyboards and guitar. A few choice audience members near the front of the stage began to sing along to the song and watched the duo perform intensely.
Interaction between the musicians and the audience was limited, and, truthfully, was not even necessary. If anything, the rare instances of interaction took away from the music, which seemed to be the true draw to the audience members. At one point, Legrand told a joke, but only a few members of the audience understood.
“Never mind,” she mumbled before quickly jumping into a series of songs including the transcendent “Master of None” from the duo’s self-titled debut and “Heart of Chambers,” a deep, soulful tune that was the final number before the eventual encore. “This is one of those situations where there’s nowhere to go,” Legrand exclaimed, before returning to the stage to close the night quietly with “Lovelier Girl.”
“This is a lullaby,” Legrand said. “Lovelier Girl,” a song immersed in passion and yearning, made for a wonderful fit to end the similarly entrancing night.
Issue #28
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