This year marks the eleventh anniversary of Beach House’s fifth studio album, Depression Cherry. Composed of members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming), Beach House quickly became a pillar in the dream pop genre after the release of their sophomore album, Teen Dream, in 2009. Their breakthrough into the mainstream only grew exponentially after the release of Depression Cherry in 2015.
The third track on the album, ‘Space Song,’ began its resurgence in popularity on TikTok in 2019, bringing the band back into the cultural forefront. Before then, the band’s popularity existed in smaller online communities such as Tumblr, and it is arguably this initial Tumblr fame that has allowed the band to maintain a cult following throughout the years.
Additionally, Beach House has been consistent in their image and creation over the years, allowing them to maintain their core audience. In an interview with Pitchfork upon the album’s release, Scally spoke on the overt over-commercialisation of art, saying, “Can’t I just experience something? I don’t want it to be sold to me or branded. The thing that I crave is authenticity.”
Depression Cherry is a deeply authentic album that feels intrinsically timeless. When you listen to it, it doesn’t feel like you’re drifting into the past or the future. It feels like you are gently hovering over the present, like you’ve held your breath long enough for time to stop. The album is lucidly vulnerable, covering topics such as love, loss and growing up. It speaks to its audience in a very connective way, making each song feel deeply personal.
Throughout the album, Legrand and Scally use droning sounds as well as dreamy fading, punctuated with distorted peaks. This is used so well throughout the album, especially in my favourite song, “10:37.” To me, this song is about the peace of a new day, how that peace can be deceiving, and how its fleetingness doesn’t negate its beauty. The song itself is grounding and peaceful, but slightly disorienting and melancholy, perfectly capturing this feeling. This sound is embedded into the DNA of the album, and can be heard throughout.
The album not only employs dissonant sound, but also lyrics that border on the absurd. In ‘Beyond Love,’ Legrand sings ‘The first thing that I do before I get into your house//I’m gonna tear off all the petals from the rose that’s in your mouth.” To me, this line encapsulates the feeling of losing love and questioning every sweet thing that was said to you in the relationship. While its delivery is visceral and mildly disturbing, it is almost the only way this emotion could be conveyed. Some feelings are best explained with abstraction; nothing about the human experience is straightforward. The writing on this album pays homage to that notion.
Depression Cherry is aging beautifully, and I won’t be surprised if it becomes a classic in forthcoming years. You can listen to it on Spotify or Apple Music.
