Pitchfork

Photos by Erik Liam Sanchez; text by Tyler Grisham

Baltimore's Beach House have expanded upon their live show since I saw them at the Pitchfork Music Festival this past summer. As with the subtle but impressive sonic improvements they made between their highly-regarded debut and last month's follow-up, Devotion, the basic setup remained the same: Victoria Legrand on her organ and Alex Scally backing her up on guitar. But Papercuts' Jason Robert Quever on drums bolstered the preprogrammed beats that began each song-- a trick the group employed on Devotion and one that helps their stage presence burst to life.

Quever's San Francisco-based band opened the night at Schubas with a set of tracks from last year's Can't Go Back, including the time-signature-hopping ballad "John Brown" and "Dear Employee", plus a few numbers from an as-yet-unannounced follow-up. Beach House's Scally provided keys for Papercuts, and Legrand joined them onstage for the last number.

A few minutes later, Legrand, Scally, and Quever were back on stage, drowned in swirling blue lights straight out of Back to the Future's Enchantment Under the Sea dance, drifting through a set of tunes pulled equally from Devotion and their self-titled debut. The set was bookended by two of Devotion's best tracks, "Wedding Bell" and an utterly majestic rendering of "Heart of Chambers".

We caught up with the bands in Schubas' green room after the show for a few behind-the-scenes shots. Look for a supine Cass McCombs cameo and the bands' whole road crew below, plus the handful of remaining tour dates.

BEACH HOUSE








PAPERCUTS







BEACH HOUSE








PAPERCUTS






THE CREW


Beach House/Papercuts:

03-27 Cleveland Heights, OH - The Grog Shop
03-28 Toronto, Ontario - El Mocambo
03-29 Montreal, Quebec - Casa del Popolo
03-30 Winooski, VT - The Monkey House
03-31 Cambridge, MA - The Middle East
04-01 Middleton, CT - Wesleyan University
04-02 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
04-03 Philadelphia, PA - The Barbery
04-04 Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel

Beach House:

04-19 Bloomington, IN - Indiana University
04-26 Clinton, NY - Hamilton College

Papercuts:

04-18 San Francisco, CA - Café du Nord