Review: Beach House at The Mill & Mine
A handful of seemingly random Beach House shows in Nashville, Knoxville, Pittsburgh, and NYC over the course of six days could mean any number of things.
Might the Baltimore-formed dream-pop band be testing out material for its first new album since 2022’s Once Twice Melody? Are more dates about to be announced? Or is the trio merely staying sharp so that, when a proper tour does happen, clicking back into gear is practically automatic?
With no clear answers, the best approach was not to speculate too much — or hold out for an Asheville date — and simply drive to The Mill & Mine in Knoxville on Sept. 28. The 1,200-capacity space was a practically ideal setting for the band’s distinctly chill indie rock, and Victoria Legrand (vocals/keys), Alex Scally (guitar), and James Barone (drums) capitalized on this grand potential of artist and venue pairing.
Cloaked in shadow and bathed from behind in a revolving color palette, the group was difficult to see on a micro level, but the epic sounds it produced more than compensated for, say, not being able to clearly view Scally’s fingers dance across his guitar’s frets.
With the exception of Teen Dream’s “Zebra,” the band played pretty much every major song one could wish for. And yet, Beach House’s catalog is so deep that its members could have crafted a set of secondary tracks and it would have nearly been as mesmerizing.
A sea of phones from the surprisingly youth-centric crowd greeted the beginning of nearly every selection, and while the band’s intros are among the best in modern music, longtime fans know that some of the most memorable moments arrive as the verses tick away.
As such, phones came back up for Legrand referencing Twin Peaks with her repeated “It is happening again” chorus in “Silver Soul.” And for Scally’s slide guitar accompanying Legrand’s bright organ tones and climactic, upper-register bridge of “Master of None.” And they downright resembled prairie dog popping back up for Scally’s hypnotic extended solo on “PPP” — my vote for Beach House’s greatest hit and one of six Depression Cherry tracks that made the setlist, good for 1/3 of the selections.
Strong as each performance was, the evening wasn’t without its hiccups. Scally’s station experienced multiple issues involving technical assistance and a few hot mic moments from the sound crew made one wonder if the venue needs to upgrade its equipment.
But the hits kept coming, and as the final notes of the brilliantly chosen encore closer “Myth” rang across the former industrial building, satisfied customers made their appreciation known.
(Photo by David Belisle)
