My music listening
has become so obsessive
that one night I dream
about the Beach House
album. In the dream, the album
became like a movie I was watching.
In fact, there was no music,
just people doing things, saying things,
none of which I can remember now,
none of which had any connection
to the band or the record, save that
the image of the cover somehow kept
creeping into the dream’s visuals.
And it was one of those dreams in which
one feels awake, like not sleeping at all,
and feeling that, and thinking to oneself,
I’ve got to get back to sleep. I blame
that night’s wine, October 31, one last
hurrah before a dry November, so when
it’s actually time to listen to the album,
I will be sober and very much awake.
I’ve been eyeballing this record
in my stacks for quite some time,
thinking about listening to it again,
remembering it fondly but not vividly.
November, and the B’s, and the dream
all bring me back to it. I don’t know why
I sprung in 2022 for the deluxe edition,
a two-record set inside of a hinged box,
two big posters of both album
sleeves, sleeves within sleeves,
and a full-color art/lyric booklet;
this, from a band whose records
I had never purchased before.
I have to get back to the dream motif,
because, for one, this band reminds
me of The Dream Academy from the 80’s,
but also because, as I was listening
to their music, streaming it for the first
time, before this record came out,
I used to fall asleep while it played.
I’m listening to Once Twice Melody
right now, and I understand why I fell
asleep, but also why this band intrigues
me. It is dream-like, comforting, the
quiet singing, the gentle, warm synth
textures, the understated percussion,
sometimes electronic, sometimes
live. It’s a long record. None of this
two or three songs on a side bull.
One hour and twenty-four minutes
of cool, trance-like, sleepy time.
I don’t know what they’re singing about
and I don’t feel the urge to grab the lyrics.
I just let it wash over the room and
through the mostly empty house
in the dark.
Notes on the vinyl edition: Once Twice Melody, Sub-Pop Records, 2022, deluxe edition, boxed two record set, on gold and clear vinyl, respectively.
Note on the writing and the playback: I finished the above poem-thing before I reached the conclusion of the first side of the album, and I’m glad I did. To wit: I have a record store guy who said, in a conversation about whether colored vinyl sounded better or worse than black vinyl, that there’s no difference, but gold and silver vinyl, he’s experienced, is often problematic. Well, this record seems to bear that out. Side two of the gold record is distorting and skipping like crazy. Like, the stylus is just skipping across the record. That’s never happened before. Very disconcerting. I did discover a significant piece of some debris on the needle, so I cleaned it, and it played back without issue—but there still seemed to be distortion here and there where there should not be distortion. Gold vinyl, bad? Bad pressing? Side three sounds bad as well on the clear vinyl. Do I remember this from the first few times I played this record? Is that why I neglected it for so long? Super disappointing as I try to be receptive to the mojo of the rest of this album. An argument, perhaps, for returning to the compact disc! In a paranoia about the condition of my needle, I pulled out a Clairo album—sounds great. This Beach House record should have gone back to the record store.
In the event this is the first time you’ve seen a post in this series:
- I’m listening to every record in my collection in alphabetical order and writing a poem-like-thing for each artist represented there.
- It took me only 11 days to listen to all 29 record albums in the “A” section, but it might make sense, to make room for other kinds of writing on the blog, and to give my ears a rest, to attempt a single letter of the alphabet over a month’s time. I don’t know if that will work either–as I’m looking at the vast “B” section ahead. Nearly the entire Bowie catalog is in this section!
michael jarmer 