Ghostly, but never creepy. Serene, but never still. Uncomplicated, but never simple. These are just a few of many attempts to describe the music on Devotion. On the album, the second from Beach House, discernable melodies rarely appear, but there’s no feeling of being lost. Slight percussion suggests a beating rhythm, but there’s no urgent drive to reach the climax. The airy vocals sound like fleeting whispers, but the weight of the modest instrumentation settles the music, bringing the entire composition together.

With the delicate singing and light-handed organ-playing by Victoria Legrand along with the soft guitar and keyboard offerings by Alex Scally, Beach House’s music never offends fragile ears but manages to hold the listener tightly with its hypnotizing sounds that could calm even the most worried moods. Imagine Nico’s work as a soloist. Then quiet the harsher parts (including the German accent). Now visualize yourself floating over a city. There’s endless activity and frantic hustling below, but they’re not your concern. You waft above all of the anxiety and rush. You are free.

With song titles like “You Came to Me,” “Wedding Bells,” and “All These Years,” Beach House has named their album perfectly, Devotion. The work is a sweet idyll grounded in the labor of the virtuosity. The composition is more about a feeling than simply about love. It creates an effervescent aura with its soft lyrical intonations, wailing guitar sounds, and sinuous strings of music. The apparition of sound drifts in the air, and the listener surrenders himself to being picked up in a cloud of gentle songs, never wanting to return to the ground.

- Jonathan Mason