Overview
Depression Cherry is the fifth studio album by the American dream pop duo Beach House. It was released on August 28, 2015, through Sub Pop in the United States, Bella Union in Europe, Mistletone Records in Australia, Hostess Entertainment in Japan and Arts & Crafts in Mexico. Serving as a follow-up to their previous album Bloom (2012), the album was arranged and performed entirely by the duo, while the songs were written by lead vocalist Victoria Legrand. The duo additionally produced it alongside Chris Coady, being his third time working with the group. After touring in support of their previous album Bloom, Beach House took a six-month break. During this break, they insisted on not thinking about developing an album, additionally reacting to their dissatisfaction with incorporating live drums on tour.
They would return to a simpler style of dream pop arrangements for Depression Cherry, relying on less usage of live drums and instead constructing around drum machine rhythms, similar to the musical styles of their first two studio albums. The duo began looking for musical inspiration and began writing songs for the album between 2012 and 2014. They later began recording the entire album at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana, from November 2014 to January 2015. Before joining each other in the studio, the duo sent Coady several demo recordings. To promote Depression Cherry, the duo released its lead single, "Sparks", on July 1, 2015, with "PPP" and "Beyond Love" being released as the second and third singles on August 6, 2015.
Despite being leaked on the Internet during the same month as the latter two singles, the album was released to mostly positive reviews from critics, with some likening its musical approach to the band's first two studio albums, while some criticized its repetitiveness. It debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, with 27,000 copies sold. They further supported the album by going on a concert tour from August to December 2017. Less than two months after releasing Depression Cherry, Beach House followed it up with their sixth studio album, Thank Your Lucky Stars, which they described as not a companion. Years after its release, the album earned an increased commercial reception after its promotional single, "Space Song", went viral on social media platforms, primarily TikTok.
A sleeper hit, the song had an increase of streams through this virality and its usage in the 2022 Netflix series Wednesday. In 2025, the song was certified quadruple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), while the album was certified platinum in 2026, being their first album to earn such designation. It also received a gold certification in New Zealand.
Background
On May 15, 2012, Beach House released their fourth studio album Bloom, which was supported by the singles "Myth" and "Lazuli". Recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, the album was met with critical acclaim from several music critics. It was also a commercial success, being their best-selling album on the US Billboard 200, debuting at number seven with 41,000 copies sold within its first week. In an August 2012 interview with Rolling Stone, when asked if the band were recording any new material, lead vocalist Victoria Legrand revealed that she instead thought about what she wanted to make within the next album. They further supported the album's success by releasing an accompanying short film consisting of live performances of songs from the album, Forever Still, and toured worldwide extensively throughout that year and 2013.
After finishing the supporting concert tours for Bloom, the group took a six-month break. Legrand added, "I just personally felt I needed a couple of months of just not doing anything, I didn't have thoughts." Legrand reflected on the "aggravated" usage of live drums during their song performances on the Bloom tours because of "the noise it creates and how much space it fills".
Recording and production
. (pictured) Beach House came up with a portion of musical ideas for Depression Cherry in 2011, subsequently writing songs for the album in Baltimore, their hometown, between 2012 and 2014; "10:37" was one of the first songs to be written during this period. The album was recorded at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana over two months, from November 2014 to January 2015. It was co-produced by Chris Coady, who worked on the band's previous two records, Teen Dream (2010) and Bloom. Prior to joining the band in the studio, they sent him phone recordings of some of their in-progress songs. Additionally, the song contains a running vocal loop that was "accidentally" captured at a soundcheck in Bristol, England. For the song "Days of Candy", they hired eight singers from Pearl River Community College to create a 24-part choir.
After completing that song and "Levitation", the band knew they had the album's closing and opening tracks, respectively, and considered the record completed. The album was mixed at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California, except "Beyond Love", which was mixed at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas.
Musical style
According to the band, Depression Cherry is a return to the simpler style of dream pop from their first two albums, stating in a press release on the Sub Pop website, that "live drums play ... a far lesser role" and that within the album, they "continue to let ourselves evolve while fully ignoring the commercial context in which we exist". Kevin Warwick of The A.V. Club commented that several tracks from the album are "constructed on rudimentary programmed rhythms as opposed to live studio drumming". The album's opener, "Levitation", begins with a "high-F♯ drone" which crossfades into a "lovely saturated D chord", as well as a "tap-tapping electronic rhythm", with the song itself being said to succeed the 2012 track "Irene", featured on the band's previous album Bloom. The loop is then interrupted by a distorted guitar, thus being described as a shoegaze track.
Throughout the entire song, a distorted organ and percussion are also used. Transitioning onto the third track, "Space Song", it opens with an organ sound and leaps into a sliding guitar and an "8-bit keyboard" arpeggio which run throughout the entire track.
Promotion and release
in September 2015. On May 26, 2015, Beach House announced Depression Cherry along with tour dates supporting the album. On July 9, 2015, Depression Cherry was leaked on the internet through a data breach on music site Spin. On August 19, nine days before the album's release, NPR Music made a stream of the album available online. The album was released on August 28, 2015, for digital download, CD, LP and cassette formats, though Sub Pop in North America The album debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200, with 27,000 copies sold in its first week. It also debuted within the top 20 in eight other countries, which are Belgium's Flanders region (13), The follow-up album was additionally written from July to November 2014 and recorded at the same time as Depression Cherry.
On March 6, 2026, Depression Cherry received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for sales of 1,000,000 certified units in the United States.
Singles
On June 26, 2015, Beach House announced on Twitter that they would perform "Sparks" on SiriusXMU on July 1, adding that it would be the lead single from Depression Cherry. The single was subsequently released on July 1, 2015, alongside its accompanying visualizer, which was released on YouTube; On August 6 of the same year, "PPP" and "Beyond Love" were released as the album's second and third singles. The album's three supporting singles were later published through the band's website and could be accessed through the "Single Finder" feature, which allows a user to choose three songs, particularly their favorite ones, from the band's past catalog and depending on their choices, it determines which single would likely be their favorite. "Space Song", the album's third track, was initially released as a promotional single in 2015.
The song became a sleeper hit, when about six years later, in 2021, the song attained virality on TikTok and later received a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in January 2022. The song was later featured in the Netflix-original television series Wednesday (2022), appearing in its third episode. After its appearance on the series, the song earned over four million streams in the United States, within the November 25–December 1, 2022, tracking week. Following the tracking week, it debuted at number 20 on the US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart, On April 12, 2023, the song was certified double-platinum by the RIAA, for sales of 2,000,000 certified units in the United States.
Critical reception
Depression Cherry received mostly positive reviews from contemporary music critics, with a majority complimenting its musical arrangements and direction, while some criticism drew towards its repetitive structures. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 34 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.5 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. Eric Renner Brown of Entertainment Weekly complimented Legrand's vocal structures and the instrumentals within the album, calling them "exquisite".
Awarding the album with the "Best New Music" accolade, Jayson Greene of Pitchfork praised the album's instrumentals, classifying them as "ethereal", and concluded that the band had "never sounded exactly this full and soaring before". Tim Jonze of The Guardian stated that the album "lacks the bigger pop moments of their last two albums, Bloom and Teen Dream", although he approves the band's musical approach and stated that the band "increase their impressive ability to sound like they’re whispering each song". AllMusic's Heather Phares likened the album's musical approach to the band's earlier studio albums and said that it's "a grower that demands and rewards close listening -- especially under headphones". Will Hermes of Rolling Stone called it "A formula that might seem limiting feels instead like it can contain entire worlds".
In a mixed review, John Calvert of NME claimed that the album can "becoming increasingly uninteresting", though he further stated that "the duo stick closely to their signature steady pacing and two-piece dynamic, with diminishing returns".
Accolades
Depression Cherry was named as one of the best albums of 2015 by several music publications, including Blare Magazine, - Complex 50 Best Albums of 2015 - Crack Best Albums of 2015 - Diffuser.fm The 50 Best Albums of 2015 - Drowned in Sound Favorite Albums of the Year 2015 - Gigwise Albums of the Year 2015 - Gorilla vs.
Bear Albums of 2015 - musicOMH Top 50 Albums Of 2015 - No Ripcord Top 50 Albums of 2015 - Paste 50 Best Albums of 2015 - Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2015 - PopMatters 80 Best Albums of 2015 - Pretty Much Amazing The 50 Best Albums of 2015 - Rolling Stone 50 Best Albums of 2015 - Rough Trade Albums of the Year 2015 - Spin The 50 Best Albums of 2015 - Sputnikmusic Top 50 Albums of 2015 - Stereogum The 50 Best Albums of 2015 - The Skinny Top 50 Best Albums of 2015 - The Daily Telegraph The Best Albums of 2015 - The Vinyl Factory The 50 Best LPs of 2015 - Under the Radar Top 100 Albums of 2015
Track listing
All lyrics written by Victoria Legrand; all music composed and arranged by Beach House.
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Depression Cherry. Beach House * Alex Scally * Victoria Legrand Additional musicians * Graham Hill – live drums and percussion on all tracks except "Sparks" and "PPP" * Chris Bear – live drums on "Sparks" and "PPP" * Voice/choir majors at Pearl River Community College – vocal chorus on "Days of Candy" **Lane Stewart **Lydia Howard **Lindsey Strahan **Mallory Cumberland **Ethan Martin **Jacob Cochran **LaDona Tyson – organization **Archie Rawls – organization Production * Beach House – production, mixing * Chris Coady – production, mixing on all tracks except "Beyond Love" * David Tolomei – engineering * Jay Wesley – assistant engineering * Shane Wesley – "all around dude" * Morgan Stratton – assistant engineering * Manuel Calderon – mixing on "Beyond Love" * Greg Calbi – mastering Artwork * Brian Roettinger – design * Beach House – photography