Beach House - Teen Dream

Although barely visible on the shelf of a record shop, ‘Teen Dream’ was seen from afar as a record that had the potential of providing breakthrough for one of America’s more unsung acts. 

And thankfully, it acted in a similar way to Grizzly Bear’s ‘Veckatimest’, excelling Victoria Legrand and Alex Scully’s reputation and bathing them in critical acclaim and awards. This is unarguably one of the “bigger”, more obvious choices in our list, and yet all previous Beach House albums have gone somewhat under the radar.

What gives this its pulse and its energy to stand out from previous works is an unrivalled ability to cram emotion and wistfulness into ten glorious pop songs; ‘Take Care’, the closer, epitomising this completely with a chorus that makes the hairs on your neck reach for the ceiling. Every single song on ‘Teen Dream’ achieves this. It’s as consistent a record as you’ll find all year. [JM]