Beach House

Add Date: January 19

Artist: Beach House

Album: Teen Dream

Label: Sub Pop

Genre: Rock

Comments: 2009 was undoubtedly a banner year for music; is it possible that 2010 could duplicate its predecessor? Here's one key similarity: a record that comes out in January dazzles from start to finish, shows that the band behind it is moving toward pop without sacrificing any artistic merit, and withstands whatever great albums the rest of the year throws at it to take its rightful place on year-end best-of lists. As with Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion, that has happened and will happen for Beach House's Teen Dream, the Maryland duo's third full-length, and first for indie superlabel Sub Pop.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I will reveal myself as a big fan of Beach House. Devotion, the band's second LP, was my favorite record of 2008. However, when I say that Teen Dream is absolutely terrific from start to finish, I hope that this bias increases my credibility: I had extremely high expectations for the album, and it exceeds them in every way. Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have created a work that is as captivating as their first two records, but at the same time more accessible than the poppiest tunes that they'd put out before. As alluringly gloomy as Yellow House--Legrand is a frequent collaborator with Grizzly Bear--or Summer Sun-era Yo La Tengo, this record is still so easy to get into that it's scary. (Devotion was definitely a grower.) Legrand's vocals, which fall somewhere between Nico and Hope Sandoval, are a bit more prominent here, soaring over the band's layers of organ, keyboards, guitar, percussion and bells.

There isn't a weak link on this record, but my favorites were "Norway," "Walk in the Park," "10 Mile Stereo," "Used to Be" and "Silver Soul."