While
Postcard is the debut album of French indie pop group
Beach Youth, it arrives eight years after they formed as students in Normandy and follows a pair of EPs as well as years of touring that helped focus their sound. That sound is a fetching mix of shimmery surf,
Johnny Marr, classic indie pop, and dream pop influences perhaps most memorably illustrated on second track "Love Yourself II." It follows the druggy, airport-evoking, minute-long intro, "Love Yourself I," which serves to ask the question, "Why are you always so hard on yourself?" The band then launch into the effervescent Part II, whose brisk tempo, melodic guitar line, layers of strummed guitar, and tender vocals capture the romanticism of acts like
the Field Mice and songs like
the Cure's "In Between Days." Much of the album follows suit, with dreamy and melancholy yet energetic indie pop tunes, though
Beach Youth stay clear of becoming too formulaic with tracks such as the slower, more eccentric "Around Me," which leans into the album's frequent seventh chords. Later, they take another breather with "Say Something," a nearly acoustic entry that goes without drums. Elsewhere, "Upside Down" is still jangly but poppier, not as dense, and reliant on punchy downbeats, an approach that befits its jaunty melody. It's a song that looks for solidarity in an uncertain world. While
Beach Youth reside mainly in lush, enveloping, rhythm guitar atmospheres that complement their compassionate lyrics, the full spectrum of their sound makes
Postcard a worthwhile destination for fans of any of their style inspirations. ~ Marcy Donelson