Beach House

Somber guitars, aching melodies and loads of reverb, Devotion is the perfect farewell to summer. Although the album’s been out for several months, it has (for no apparent reason) flown under the radar. Victoria Legrand’s vocals will tear your apart, as on “Gila,” a tear-jerker, and one of the strongest songs on the disc (with Legrand’s voice echoing, “Sure, you’ve got a handle on the past / it’s why you keep your little lovers in your lap”). Devotion conjures up lives that were never lived, lovers who were never loved and empty spaces that were meant to remain so. It’s a moody album, full of keyboard drones and slightly uncomfortable spans of blustery, narcotic weariness. And with only two members, Beach House proves that music can be made with little more than pure emotion and a four-track.