If you went to this show as a lonely soul, it’s probably an understatement to say you felt very, very single for much of the 90-minute set, frantically swiping through Tinder trying to find your dream-pop loving other half, desperate to share the intimate moment with someone. It’s fair to say that Beach House are a band made for subtle romance, therefore when Victoria Legrand, half of Beach House, declared “this is a love set” – all those on their own looked down at their toes, checking them out in order to curb the embarrassment whilst their neighbouring punters cuddled up with their other halves. Envy is a cruel mistress.

As the sun set on Brighton and the queue began to amass around the side of Hove’s serene All Saints Church, whilst it being my first visit to the venue, the phenomenal nature of the event dawned upon me. The duo had managed to sell out the church completely leading for touts outside, the type of reception that you expect at a Radiohead concert outside an arena, not for a cultish duo visiting a church in Hove.

Beach House, who secured much of my heartbroken teenage listening, were now to perform inside Brighton’s most magical of venues. It is a venue that demands the most comprehensive understanding of sound due to its vast open space; intricate guitar parts may easily fall foul to the huge acoustic room. This was my initial worry, as Beach House took to the stage and delved into their Depression Cherry LP. ‘Levitation’ opened the set with the twinkling of lights reflecting Legrand’s sequinned jacket. Glimmering synthesisers echoed around her angelic voice but unfortunately, it became slightly misguided within the church, losing itself around the middle leaving Legrand in a position where she was in need of adapting her vocal delivery somewhat. The vocals fell prey to the open room and became largely inaudible, initial panic set in that after five years of waiting to see Beach House, they were to get lost within their own sound. ‘PPP’ fell within a similar trap leading for an inaudible swirl that grew excessively expansive and proved to have the self-control of Gazza in Hong Kong circa 1996.

This theme seemed to continue for much of the first half of the set, exceptionally frustratingly, Legrand’s gauzy vocals washed upon empty waves. As Jesus Christ himself peered down from stained glass windows, Beach House became caught astray within their own reverberated dream-pop. ‘Walk In The Park’ survived purely due to the incessant sampled drum loop, working effortlessly to give a tangible narrative for the audience. Miraculously though, as the moonlight began to bleed through the high windows around the hour mark something changed within their approach. The music was delivered with less of an airy nonchalance, finding more assertiveness – it seemed that Beach House eventually found their pattern somewhat. It began as material from their latest release Thank Your Lucky Stars emerged. ‘All Your Yeahs’ with its suicide take on proceedings found the band strip back the excessive wash of reverb and find the real intensity everybody sought.

A church on this scale was always set to be exceptionally unforgiving towards the reverberated sounds of Beach House. Every echoed guitar and hazed vocal became amplified within itself, but as the purpose began to grow around the music and the group adjusted slightly, the superabundance of lighting created potency and allowed you to focus more. It was not an easy gig to get into but when you applied the required attention, cutting off from everything else, it became much more apparent as to the direction of the concert. Legrand appeared to grow into the set more too, leaving her initial timid approach to demonstrate hair whips and dance moves that were questionably reminiscent of Men at Work – not necessarily to be repeated by anybody under the age of 45 but at least allowing for it to become slightly more engaging.

Beach House began to fluidly distribute songs from earlier releases playing equal amounts from 2010’s Teen Dream – ‘Silver Soul’, ’10 Mile Stereo’, ‘Take Care’ and ‘Walk In The Park’ all featuring – as they did 2015’s Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars. The intimate nature shared between Legrand and Alex Scally added to the romantic nature of the performance, sharing vocals on the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s sounding ‘Sparks’. Scally’s huge shoegazed guitar part swamping the church in colourful sounds. This is where the acoustics of the church bolstered the music more than ever, with nothing to drown it out, it resonated around the church, leaving crowd members with their perception of Beach House completely transformed.

As lovers kissed and danced throughout, it seemed Beach House had almost delivered the set everybody hoped for. It took time to adjust, however the sentiment was there from the start. All Saints Church at first took the group victim, doubling the reverb allowing for all the songs to merge together somewhat leaving for little dynamism, however as the moonlight swept through the venue, Legrand became more engaging and the lights more enthralling. Beach House began to demand more attention growing more self-assured. It was a slow burner as a set, and in retrospect, what would we expect? Beach House are anything but an immediate band, they take time and heat with an ember rather than a blaze.
Tom Churchill

Website: beachhousebaltimore.com
Facebook: facebook.com/beachhouse
Twitter: twitter.com/BeaccchHoussse