Pitchfork

Before Baltimore dreamers Beach House head to the UK for a reverb-laden double bill with Fleet Foxes, they've just finished treating northern Europe's hopelessly Devotion-ed to a few shows in Norway. A Norwegian TV journalist accompanied the band on the train ride from Bergen to Oslo, and the band wrote a song to commemorate the occasion at the TV station's request. Recorded at the Oslo train station, "Norway" is another of the supine and haunted compositions for which Beach House have become known. Victoria Legrand's organ isn't here, but Alex Scally's slow-trickling acoustic guitar lines are (perhaps slightly out of tune). Legrand and Scally sing in lilting, eerie harmonies, while a third House-guest helps out on shaker and tambourine. The lyrics can be hard to decipher-- "Don't you know it's true," Legrand repeats, got that one-- but like the Scandinavian landscape, "Norway" sets a grand and mysterious mood.

[unreleased; Devotion is out now on Carpark]