Flowery and unfaltering

On more than one occasion, Beach House has discussed Bob Dylan interviews, and recently shared one lyric particularly integral to the conception of “Bloom,” the band’s fourth studio album: “To dance beneath the diamond sky/With one hand waving free,” which comes from “Mr. Tambourine Man.”

Here, Victoria Legrand muses about much of the same — “If you built yourself a myth/You’d know just what to give/What comes after this/Momentary bliss” she coos on opener “Myth.” Who built myth better, or had a harder time with happiness, than Dylan?

Alex Scally composes a largely harmonic soundscape for Legrand’s voice. Often, the songs’ melody and tone rest on the rhythm and timbre of her vocals, and thankfully her touch is light and lovely, dancing perfectly in step with churning, cyclic organ, guitar and synth sounds.

The explicit, singular and cathartic melodies of “Teen Dream” would overpower most of “Bloom,” where the homogenous, nuanced instrumentation is as impressionistic as its lyrics about both longing and receiving — the cycle of things.

Trippy, uplifting and even lurchy at times, “Bloom” isn’t perfect. But even when it drags, Legrand and Scally never falter in their execution, a clear aesthetic that’s as much about what isn’t there as what is.

By Adam Lukach