Once Twice Melody Beach House

• 1 Once Twice Melody 04:45
• 2 Superstar 06:09
• 3 Pink Funeral 04:56
• 4 Through Me 05:49
• 5 Runaway 04:23
• 6 ESP 03:49
• 7 New Romance 04:13
• 8 Over and Over 07:11
• Total Runtime 41:15

Info for Once Twice Melody

Once Twice Melody is the 8th studio album by Beach House. It is a double album, featuring 18 songs presented in 4 chapters. Across these songs, many types of style and song structures can be heard. Songs without drums, songs centered around acoustic guitar, mostly electronic songs with no guitar, wandering and repetitive melodies, songs built around the string sections. In addition to new sounds, many of the drum machines, organs, keyboards and tones that listeners may associate with previous Beach House records remain present throughout many of the compositions.

Beach House is Victoria Legrand, lead singer and multi-instrumentalist, and Alex Scally, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. They write all of their songs together. Once Twice Melody is the first album produced entirely by the band. The live drums are by James Barone (same as their 2018 album, 7), and were recorded at Pachyderm studio in Minnesota and United Studio in Los Angeles. For the first time, a live string ensemble was used. Strings were arranged by David Campbell.

The writing and recording of Once Twice Melody began in 2018 and was completed in July of 2021. Most of the songs were created during this time, though a few date back over the previous 10 years. Most of the recording was done at Apple Orchard Studio in Baltimore. Once Twice Melody was mixed largely by Alan Moulder but a few tracks were also mixed by Caesar Edmunds, Trevor Spencer, and Dave Fridmann.

Beach House

Beach House
Alex Scally and Victoria Legrand met through a mutual friend in 2004. Beach House formed in the late spring of 2005 (the year of the rooster) after both parties realized that they had a preternatural musical vinculum.

While spending a good deal of time together playing and recording music Alex and Victoria enjoy not dating, not being related and not having grown up together. As such questions are tossed at them often the duo also shares the common interest of explaining to people that they are not dating, not related and did not grow up together.

Oddly enough, they both existed separately before meeting one another. They had adorable little childhoods. Alex was born and bred in Baltimore City, and Victoria grew up just about everywhere. She was born in Paris (France) where she lived until she was 6, and she remains fluent in French. She then hustled it on over to Baltimore, but somehow in the era of chicken pox their ships missed each other in the night, and Victoria soon moved on to the glamorously rural Cecil County, Maryland. She then moved north to Philadelphia before she hopped back to Paris for a stint and finally returned once again to and settled in Baltimore. Alex was…still living in Baltimore and when Victoria returned to Baltimore the two experienced the aforementioned meeting. It was thrilling for all participants involved.

Both members of the band have long-standing relationships with playing and learning about music. Alex began tickling the ivories in elementary school and picked up (and played) other instruments in his early high school years. This is also when he first began recording music. Similarly, Victoria was classically trained in piano from the age of 7 and began formally training her voice at the age of 14. She also studied theatre formally at the International School of Jacques Lecoq. Victoria started writing her own songs at the age of 18, after deciding that she’d rather play her own music than mouthing other poets, as they say. A lot of the lyrics and songs she currently composes find their seeds in the piano and organ playing she does.

The pair agrees that their influences are too numerous to list. Fortunately, they both like listening to music and right now they like listening to The Zombies, Neil Young, Emitt Rhodes, Dusty Springfield, The Supremes, Nirvana, Earth, Ann Peebles, The Beach Boys, Hank Williams, Ravel, John Cale, Velvet Underground, Elliott Smith, Tony, Caro & John, The Beatles, and Daniel Johnston amongst others.

The band recorded their first, self-titled album in February of 2006 and the second, Devotion, in August of 2007, the year of our Lord. They have toured with Arbouretum, Clientele, and Grizzly Bear. When they’re not touring about and playing music Victoria and Alex support themselves by working within the sidewalk jobs. Alex slings a hammer as a carpenter and Victoria slings booze as a bartender.

This album contains no booklet.