The new Beach House album, Bloom, came out last week. The album’s received good reviews, I think it’s pretty fantastic. If you loved Teen Dream, you’ll love Bloom. 🙂
However, that’s not the only reason Beach House is in the news this week.
Volkswagen launched a new ad campaign in the UK. Here’s the commercial:
That’s pretty awesome, isn’t it? A father and a daughter and their relationship as she grows from infancy and finally leaves the nest, told in 90 seconds and with a very emotive piece of music as its soundtrack. How can that not tug at the heartstrings?
Except.
The music. That piece of music. It sounds a lot like Beach House but it isn’t Beach House.
And this hasn’t gone unnoticed by the band or its fans. Fans are taking it out on Volkswagen, while the band says to place the blame on the ad agency who tried to license their song “Take Care” (from Teen Dream) and, when rebuffed, went ahead and commissioned their own knock-off.
The result is Sniffy Dog’s “Whispers and Stories.”
And you know what? I kinda like “Whispers and Stories” on its own terms. The song’s to Beach House what a Rutles song is to a Beatles song.
Yeah, it’s shady that the ad agency commissioned the soundalike when Beach House wouldn’t license the song. I should feel outraged over that, but the sheer awesomeness of the commercial balances that out in my heart.
I think I’m going to watch that commercial again. The father reminds me of Rory from Doctor Who; strangely, I imagine that this is Rory and Amy’s life after leaving the Doctor.
And then I’ll put Bloom in the CD player of my Volkswagen and go for a drive in the country. Yeah, that sounds like a plan… 🙂