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10.0
41304
10.0 |
Independent on Sunday
It is what it is. And what it is is beautiful
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10.0
41322
10.0 |
PopMatters
This is an album that is simply, in the most awe-inspired sense of the term, absolutely golden from end to end – a real treasure and an utter delight to experience every time you play it
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9.1
41364
9.1 |
A.V. Club
Of the numerous bands now revisiting the neon ’80s, Beach House—with Chris Coady, returning on production duties—deserves credit for constructing the most unmistakable sonic identity
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9.1
41321
9.1 |
Pitchfork
Beach House's decision to call this record Bloom is almost too perfect. Over the course of four albums that's exactly what this band has done
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9.0
41374
9.0 |
Prefix
If albums are a land you disappear into for an hour to escape the dreariness of your life, no one makes better dreamlands than Beach House
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9.0
41426
9.0 |
Consequence Of Sound
On this album, anticipatory ache doesn’t lead into the chorus; it is the chorus
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8.6
41459
8.6 |
Beats Per Minute
If Teen Dream represented the ups and downs of a youthful dalliance then Bloom is the music you hear on the drive home
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8.5
41781
8.5 |
hhv.de mag
A brand new sound isn’t what is on offer here but rather a testament to Beach House’s slightly eery, time-stopping storytelling skills
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8.0
41996
8.0 |
Entertainment.ie
There will be those who will lament any real sense of progression on Bloom but when the music is this intoxicating, THIS good, who really cares? Highly recommended
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8.0
42219
8.0 |
Tone Deaf
Anyone who wasn’t drawn in by the instantly gratifying pop of Teen Dream isn’t likely to find anything here to entice them. Anyone who hitherto has enjoyed Beach House’s pastoral dream pop will no doubt fall in love once again
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8.0
49002
8.0 |
All Music
It's not the band's most immediate music, but the album's challenging mix of heartbroken words and aloof sounds rewards patient and repeated listening
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8.0
41503
8.0 |
Paste Magazine
Bloom isn’t a huge progression for Beach House, but rather a lateral step for the group. It’s an album that’s sure to satisfy long-time fans while undoubtedly garnering the band even more media buzz
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8.0
41551
8.0 |
Blurt
"Irene" with its hypnotic refrain and ice-thawing emotionalism is the sort of heartbreaking melody that made you fall in love with the pair in the first place
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8.0
41719
8.0 |
State
If perfection is always a dangerous word to use in the music review sphere, there’s something close to it here
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8.0
41375
8.0 |
DIY
Beach House’s career can be regarded as a beautiful progression, with zero anomalies or missteps, where grand structures collapse into a rush of abstract euphoria
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8.0
41146
8.0 |
FasterLouder
Pick the right moment and Bloom will feel like a transportive journey
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8.0
41148
8.0 |
God Is In The TV
Bloom is one of the best LPs you’re going to hear in 2012, if not beyond. It’s just missing a certain something
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8.0
41150
8.0 |
Uncut
An album that feels very much like the score for an imaginary firm
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8.0
41152
8.0 |
Mojo
If Beach House are your type, then Bloom is unlikely to see the attraction wither. Print edition only
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8.0
41154
8.0 |
Q
They look set to smuggle something soothingly left-field straight into the heart of the mainstream. Print edition only
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8.0
41182
8.0 |
musicOMH
Beach House’s trajectory from indie wannabees to critical darlings has a determindely upwards curve to it
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8.0
41193
8.0 |
BBC
Once you manage to pull away from Bloom's magnified scenery and consider the record as a whole it's difficult to think of it as anything other than its makers’ best work so far
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8.0
41223
8.0 |
Under The Radar
Completely affecting but somehow ethereal moods you can't quite put your finger on
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8.0
41225
8.0 |
Evening Standard
Bloom blossoms with repeated listening
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7.5
41190
7.5 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Bloom is beautiful for the same reasons as its predecessors: the guitar lines glint and dash away distantly as a school of fish under water, because everything is underwater
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7.0
41335
7.0 |
Drowned In Sound
For all their undoubted accomplishment, Beach House seem to have reached their limits as a two-piece, or worse still, have simply finishing running their creative gamut altogether
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7.0
41351
7.0 |
Bowlegs
For those that may have over-played Teen Dream will find a new addiction with Bloom, it’s as deep as an ocean after all. But for those who were hoping for a new chapter in the Beach House story – you may need to wait a little longer yet
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7.0
41144
7.0 |
Rave Magazine
Just as beautiful as we have come to expect, as Scally’s ringing guitar lines and Legrand’s subtle keyboard work combine to captivating effect with her husky, reverb-laden voice
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7.0
41317
7.0 |
Clash
'Bloom' oozes simplicity, honesty and contentness. It will be a welcome sound of summer for ‘Teen Dream’ fans, but don’t expect anything too radical
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7.0
41241
7.0 |
AU Review
A fine album
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7.0
41367
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
The melodies, guitarscapes and thrift-shop organ swells make for exquisite comfort
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7.0
41455
7.0 |
NME
There’s pleasure in hearing a band do what they do so peerlessly well: croon sweet, sweet lullabies to console us in our fleshy prisons
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6.8
41644
6.8 |
The AU Review
Its main let-down is a lack of tension, but at the end of the day, this is Beach House doing what Beach House do best - and better this time around too
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6.0
41487
6.0 |
Tiny Mix Tapes
It’s not as exciting as the debut, but then this isn’t necessarily music to get excited to
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6.0
41372
6.0 |
The Digital Fix
Bloom is dramatic, valiant, stunning, but it’s not heartracing, nor unanticipated
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6.0
41418
6.0 |
The Quietus
Bloom is in part brilliant but maddeningly safe and, ultimately, is a decidedly unsatisfying listen
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6.0
41383
6.0 |
Art Rocker
This is a texturally well-realised record that changes the temperature of the room
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6.0
41282
6.0 |
The Arts Desk
Bloom has few points of focus. Instrumental flourishes are buried under washes of bleached-out synth
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6.0
41299
6.0 |
Slant Magazine
The only thing that actually elevates Bloom from the linearity of its reverb-caked narcosis is the effort of vocalist Victoria Legrand, whose husky, melancholic voice provides a weighty counterpunch to the album's papery songs
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6.0
41308
6.0 |
The Observer
Perhaps the best bits of Bloom aren't the hooky melodies, or Legrand's recasting of Nico as a sweeter pill, but the structures that underpin the feeling of coasting on a thermal
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6.0
41227
6.0 |
The Guardian
So much a world unto itself that getting inside it takes some effort
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6.0
43563
6.0 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
Bloom sounds larger and more expansive, the guitars shimmering more than they used to shimmer, the drums and bass benefiting enormously from a stronger low-end
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5.0
42794
5.0 |
Loud And Quiet
Straight song writing and atmospheric arrangements that never really leave a mark
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5.0
41414
5.0 |
No Ripcord
There’s just no reason to listen to Bloom all the way through if you have already put time into Beach House’s backlog
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4.0
41579
4.0 |
The Independent
Pleasantly undemanding for a few tracks, the album just seems to evaporate away halfway through, as if even its creators couldn't retain interest in it, either
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