Beach House – Heaven, London 01/06/10

‘Heaven’ and ‘good sound’ rarely stand together in the same sentence – which isn’t surprising for a club in the basement of Charing Cross train station. The bass in the venue commonly overwhelms any subtleties in the middle frequencies of a band’s sound. Tonight, it seems to work out the disco-layer of Beach House’s Teen Dream, whilst drowning the electronics of White Hinterland’s ‘magic maker’ Shawn Creeden.

Casey Dienel of White Hinterland‘s vocals straddle the purest pop and echo of Elizabeth Fraser, emerging in layers of sublime vocal looping. There’s moments of sea-soaked Animal Collective-esque electronic serenity, and darker sounds recalling Portishead at their deadliest from Shawn Creeden, working a table of pedals – though it all unfortunately dissipates somewhere between the audience and exceptionally high stage. Whilst Dienel’s R&B vibe carries the duo into same territory as Dirty Projectors’ ‘Stillness Is The Move’, their set feels slightly extinguished – like the two candles of their stage set-up, outed due to fire safety.

There’s a new found confidence to Beach House, sounding surprisingly massive in the cavernous surroundings. Unabated by the hiccup that prematurely ends ‘Walk In The Park’, they’re brimming with energy and entirely comfortable – Victoria Legrand seemingly having reached heartthrob-diva status, head-banging at every available moment; and Alex Scally bopping in ying-yang, clearly showing their musical kinship.

The grooves of Teen Dream, aired in full, seem rather richer with the vast bass – ‘Lover of Mine’ enticing the crowd to believe in a fantasy high school disco, against the DIY confetti bi-pyramid backdrops that start rotating during the utterly sublime gothic organs of ‘Gila’. Victoria’s voice swells with energy, en-point in perfection, bar a few notes of ‘Astronaut’ that are quickly forgotten to this swooning writer, charm overriding an odd missed note. ‘Silver Soul’ feels closer to anthem status with it’s utterly divine outro: one of the many things Beach House manage to craft so effectively, evident also in a new song aired.

‘Norway’ captures the biggest cheer of the night, it’s percussive pulses lush and full; Alex Scally’s shoegaze influences bloom during the heart-wrenching guitar solo of ‘Heart of Chambers’, blustering noise to ‘Master of None’. Despite an encore of ‘Real Love’ and ’10 Mile Stereo’, it’s impossible not to leave tonight’s show lost in the enamoured sweetness of ‘Take Care’, reaffirming any belief in love – undoubtedly the key connection Beach House have been creating over the past year.

Photographs by Anika Mottershaw