With its tendency to act like multimedia wallpaper, a lot of times drone music goes under-appreciated. On the surface, Baltimore duo Beach House does not seem to do much to dispel this reputation.

The songs are all sleepy and fairly unenthusiastic, and Victoria Legrand’s voice is a winding display of robust femininity that hardly even attempts to touch the vibrant energy a typical Top 40 record would have. With “Teen Dream,” their follow-up to 2008’s excellent release “Devotion,” Beach House has dug deeper into their complex and, at times, self-deprecating approach at drone influenced dream-pop.

“Teen Dream” is a contradiction gone horribly right. Lead-off track “Zebra” sees a gentle and repetitive guitar line alleviate the thumping but skeletal percussion and cymbal crashes to come while a sparse organ drones on. The arrangement constructs a beautifully unique drama that points toward a somehow unattainable familiarity.
That is not even to mention Victoria Legrand, who carries “Zebra” and every song with a stout after-hours voice, and lyrics so fiercely internal, the feeling accompanying the whole experience is closer to rapture rather than lucidity and active understanding.

For example, on “Silver Soul,” she sings “We gather medicine for heartache, so we can act a fool, It’s incomplete without you, The silver soul is running through, It’s a vision, complete illusion.”

The words do not really look that good on paper but when Victoria Legrand sings them, they take on a whole new life: poignant and perfect.

Beach House’s 2008 release “Devotion” was probably tighter conceptually, scarcely moving away from conveying a lovelorn and sedated romantic consciousness with bleak echoing chords and a hauntingly sparse drum machine. On “Teen Dream,” however, Beach House seems to be moving toward a brighter, more pop-influenced aesthetic.

“Norway” alludes to this with a flurry of “ah-ha-ha” backing vocals that decorate it and additional orchestrations that fill voids Beach House may have previously left deserted. They even use real drums. “10 Mile Stereo” sees Legrand’s voice lilting over what turns out to be an explosion of shoe gaze reminiscent of TV on the Radio. This is in part due to Chris Coady, the pop-leaning producer who worked with Beach House on the new album (as well as on TV on the Radio’s 2008 release “Dear Science”).
It is not that everything is entirely new here. It is more that Beach House has perfected the sound that they have been cultivating. Sure it is more polished, and the holes left by the raw, isolated and less produced sound Beach House put out in the past may be filled in but all the ingredients for a prototypical and ethereal Beach House album remain. The songs are still mesmerizing mid-tempo and semi-droney takes on pop music. Most importantly, Victoria Legrande is still casually infecting her listeners in her polite, self-aware way, and with a voice that towers over every single song.

The more open, even happier sound that Beach House showcases on “Teen Dream” shows a broader creative scope.

As great as “Devotion” was, if Beach House continued to put out the same record, taking no artistic risks, “Teen Dream” would have been a huge disappointment. Though the new record may not have the same ascetic charm as its predecessors, the openness works really well for what it is—a masterly crafted and arranged display of dream pop.

The album is a grower and although it may be a little too friendly for fans of their previous work, it is a very positive step in terms of mainstream direction for the duo.

Grade: B+