Once Twice Melody

Beach House - Once Twice Melody
Critic Score
Based on 32 reviews
2022 Ratings: #160 / 805
Year End Rank: #36
User Score
2022 Rank: #27
Liked by 604 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
Still Listening
Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have created an epic 18-track album that solidifies Beach House as the rightful queen and king of dream pop.
90
The Line of Best Fit

As they did with Bloom, Beach House have reached greater heights than ever seemed possible. Once Twice Melody is a band at their best, again — another towering landmark in their career.

90
Under the Radar
Their ability to embody their sound and still find new avenues for it to travel down remains unparalleled. And whilst it may not be instantly identified as their best record, the longer you sit with it, the more deserving of that title it becomes.
90
AllMusic

The way different songs stand out on each listen reaffirms that Beach House's consistency is the opposite of predictable.

86
Northern Transmissions
Careening between gloomy pop and cinematic ballads, “Once Twice Melody” flourishes in its subtlety and warmth. Intimately familiar, yet cautiously exploratory — Beach House have delivered their most grandiose work of art to date.
84
Beats Per Minute

By the time Once Twice Melody reaches its closing moments, it sounds like the band are taking a well-earned victory lap in a career full of wins.

84
Paste

From the majestic opening notes of the title track to the last electronic flourish of closer “Modern Love Stories,” Once Twice Melody is the culmination of everything Beach House do best.

83
A.V. Club
Despite some missteps, the band's new album proves Beach House has more up its sleeve than subdued melodies.
80
The Irish Times
With its incredible ability to balance horror and romance, machinery and humanity, this is a diverse, innovative and well-considered collection of songs that, while asking a lot of listeners, rewards absolutely.
80
Record Collector
The Baltimore duo’s masterful fusion of organic and synthetic textures makes each song a diaphanous little earworm of delight.
80
XS Noize
With the release, they again prove they are the king and queen of Dream Pop displaying all their wares in this challenging project.
80
The Sydney Morning Herald
Beach House’s expansive eighth studio album may sound like a logical continuation of their past surreal, swirling dream pop, but this time the US duo achieves some firsts.
80
Gigwise

Once Twice Melody is a grand statement from Beach House that sits together as an extended album, while also offering more bite-sized memorable moments to take away, no doubt leaving plenty to discover on each return.

80
musicOMH
They’ve never sounded so lush and cinematic, with each sonic element of their music deliciously crisp and clear.
80
Dork
Rightfully proclaimed genre-defining purveyors of dream-pop, Victoria and Alex effortlessly match their own mountainous standards, delivering yet another all-engulfing, pensive package of sonic escapism.
80
Spectrum Culture

Once Twice Melody turns to maximalism to create the inhabitable space that they have grown so good at building, resulting in the duo’s most grandiose artistic statement yet.

80
The Observer
Released gradually since November, the Baltimore duo’s rich, roaming eighth album was worth the wait.
80
The Needle Drop

Even with its pacing issues, Once Twice Melody is a big W for the dream pop duo.

80
The Telegraph

The Baltimore duo's latest is an 84-minute concept album of pastoralist-tinged dream pop – dive in, and the rewards are huge.

80
Mojo

Once Twice Melody marks a return to fuzz, but is no mere retread of past glories. Running 85 minutes and composed of 18 tracks, it’s Beach House’s grandest vision yet, favouring glacial, digital psychedelia as Giorgio Moroder may have imagined it.

80
Uncut
Baltimore duo’s dream-pop swells to new proportions on masterful eighth album.
80
Slant Magazine

In both its sonic scope and lyrical melancholy, Once Twice Melody artfully captures the all-encompassing complexities of love. Beach House’s hymn to the grandeur of relationships is, perhaps, the most musically diverse and thematically mature project the duo has released to date—an emphatic affirmation of life’s joys and sorrows.

80
No Ripcord
Though the album maintains the futuristic drive of an interplanetary journey, there are also ample touches of earlier era musical nostalgia laying about to go along with the retro storybook cover art.
80
NME

The Baltimore duo's eighth record pairs trippy imagery with playful, cinematic sounds that herald the start of a bold, unpredictable new chapter.

80
PopMatters

Beach House are always tinkering around the edges of their sonic universe, getting darker, weirder, subtler, and more expansive. They do that on Once Twice Melody, and the payoff is enormous.

78
Pitchfork

With panoramic proportions and gleaming finishes, the band’s sprawling eighth album luxuriates in the rhapsody of sensation itself. You don’t listen to Once Twice Melody, you dissolve into it.

70
Clash

Though undoubtedly a beautiful set of tracks, Once Twice Melody suffers from its length – almost eighty-five minutes is hefty for a listen in one sitting – and the occasional clashes in instrumentation and vocals, with sequenced drums and synthesisers taking away from the warmth of Legrand’s voice.

70
Exclaim!

While the album is epic in scope and regularly beautiful, Once Twice Melody feels like a bit of a missed opportunity.

70
DIY

The impatient will find ‘Once Twice Melody’ a tad wishy-washy, but for those who persevere there’s still a lot going on beneath the waves.

66
Sputnikmusic
There’s a lesson here: this band can take their aesthetics as far as they like, but they’ll always be just that.
60
Crack Magazine
Despite the grandeur, they sound as comfortingly familiar as ever.
60
Loud and Quiet
Beach House are never going to sound like anybody other than Beach House, but nearly twenty years since their debut, it’s nice to hear them spreading their wings entirely on their own terms, if a little self-indulgently.
ClayDJs03
90

A long summer daydream

Before starting this review, I’d like to thank everybody for helping me surpass 300 Followers! Considering only a couple of months ago the most I’d get from a review is three likes, this is absolute madness! I also want an extend warm regards to everybody in the AOTY Discord and AOTY Community server for both welcoming me with overwhelming positivity, it’s been the sweetest welcome I’ve ever received in any corner of the internet!

There are ... read more

Doublez
87

"Once Twice Melody" remains the most ambitious project of the duo so far, but it comes at the right time, showing all the experience and mastery of Beach House.

The now legendary Dream Pop duo Beach House doesn't have much to prove anymore, just to make us vibrate again. Founded in 2004 in Baltimore, the duo composed of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have built a breathtaking discography, becoming one of the most important groups of the last two decades. No doubt they will still be ... read more

Ahmadkm_
95

Who is Beach House?

For the blind? The vision
For the sick? The cure
For the day? The sun
For the heart? The love
For Kanye? Pete Davidson's burial

If they speak, I listen
If they have an opinion, I agree
If they have 100 fans, I'm one of them
If they have 1 fan, I'm that fan
If they don't have fans, I don't exist

I love you Beach House and I think you love me back just for letting me enjoy this masterpiece

larkwashere
77

short review-

it's just everything you already think about beach house, except a bit more polished and ambitious. i don't ever think they'll return to the sound that they had on 2010's "teen dream", their best by far, but honestly, this was pretty good throughout and managed to maintain my attention for the entire thing. there were a few songs that were weaker than others but it's 18 tracks so there's bound to be inconsistency, and if you're looking for highlights, there definitely ... read more

82

Their most experimental sound yet in my opinion, but don't let that scare you away. If you like Beach House, you will love this.

JesusPigeon
80

I enjoyed a lot of it, but my attention span sucks so I got a bit bored by the last chapter.

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Track List

Chapter 1 / Pink Funeral
1Once Twice Melody
4:44
88
2Superstar
6:08
94
3Pink Funeral
4:56
88
4Through Me
5:48
87
Chapter 2 / New Romance
1Runaway
4:23
86
2ESP
3:48
83
3New Romance
4:12
90
4Over and Over
7:11
88
Chapter 3 / Masquerade
1Sunset
3:59
82
2Only You Know
4:49
85
3Another Go Around
3:41
82
4Masquerade
4:42
88
5Illusion of Forever
3:49
84
Chapter 4 / Modern Love Stories
1Finale
4:34
82
2The Bells
4:30
83
3Hurts to Love
4:05
84
4Many Nights
4:16
81
5Modern Love Stories
4:53
88
Total Length: 1 hour, 24 minutes
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Added on: November 9, 2021