It Goes Dark Again

Beach House “Sparks”

Beach House is the sort of band that is so committed to a specific aesthetic that they never seem to change, but are in fact constantly shifting around the formal elements of their music. On the surface, “Sparks” is another hazy, organ-centric drone, but it’s also a sudden left turn from the past couple Beach House records, which emphasized crisp, clean sounds and a melodramatic romanticism. In comparison to tracks like “Myth” and “Wild,” “Sparks” is all scuffed up and knocked slightly off register, with Victoria Legrand’s sullen voice buried in the mix rather than at the center of the music. The guitar tone on the intro is significantly more aggressive than what typically ends up on Beach House records, and it overlaps with the over-driven keyboard drone in a way that suggests aggravated frustration giving way to outright depression. The lyrics are vague, but seem to be about a junkie searching for their next high, but each high is weaker and briefer than the last. It doesn’t really need to be about drugs – the “spark” could be anything that offers a momentary reprieve from pain and boredom – but either way, that theme suits the despairing tone of the record.

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