Watch Beach House’s Stunning “Drunk In LA” Performance On Kimmel

Watch Beach House’s Stunning “Drunk In LA” Performance On Kimmel

Trust Beach House to make a standard-issue late-night TV promotional appearance feel like a druidic ritual. The Baltimore dream-pop greats just released the overwhelming new album 7, which may well be their best. And on last night’s Kimmel, the performed the mythic, slow-bubbling “Drunk In LA,” which is both a highlight of the album and probably the best song about drinking in LA since Bran Van 3000’s “Drinking In LA.”

They sounded incredible, of course. This was a stripped-down version of the Beach House live lineup. They played as a trio with only OG members Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally and touring drummer James Barone, formerly of Tennis. And yet the sound that they conjured was huge, a grand and gorgeous drone. Legrand kept her voice perfectly modulated and yet gave off a sense of being full of coiled, contained power.

They looked cool, too. As someone who first saw Beach House playing to maybe 10 people at a coffee shop on a sleepy afternoon, it’s been amazing to watch them slowly stepping into the role of rock stars. This version of Legrand, in shiny vinyl and dark curtains of hair, standing in the middle of a dry-ice fog, did the classic rock-star thing where she looked like she was channeling ancient energies. Watch the performance below.

7 is out now on Sub Pop. Read our interview with Beach House here.

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