Boilerplate or Blueprint? Declan McKenna’s What Happened to the Beach

By Mia Romanoff

I can’t quite picture the person who says What Happened to the Beach is their favorite album. Don’t get me wrong, it is a solid indie-pop album. In fact, I would go as far as to say it is a no-skip album – there is nothing to dislike about it but the genre itself. Which brings me to the question I kept asking while listening to Declan McKenna’s third album: is it boilerplate or the blueprint? Full of funky guitar, energetic synths, and disjointed lyrical ponderings, What Happened to the Beach wants to be a great album. It should be a great album, yet its easy going California-esq chillness quickly turns to tedium as songs blend together and become background music. It took me three days and four listens to even sit down and be able to type out the first round of notes to write this review. And I know, if I think about it and study it and read the lyrics online, that it is a good, really, a great, indie-pop album. Yet, there’s an almost distinct lack of heart in each track. Even on songs like ‘Honest Test’ which McKenna touts as “a kind of love song”, he refuses to sit with his emotional side, siding for monotone mumbling and prioritizing the “infectious groove” of the guitar part. This isn’t bad in a single song but throughout the album there’s no gut-punch lines or weighty silences, there’s not even a moment where the beat drops and you can’t help but dance a bit in your basement library chair. It is an album that feels like it’s meant to sound good in passing. Maybe my ambivalence is just a case of being the wrong audience at the wrong time, but for an album without a bad song on it, as a cohesive project – an album, rather than a bunch of singles – I couldn’t help but feel it fell flat.

That being said, there was much about the album that I quite liked. ‘I Write the News’ starts off strong and folksy, focusing on guitar and classic McKenna political commentary, before shifting into a much more rhythmic and detached mood. ‘Breath of Light’ has an almost meditative start, playing with the line between island relaxation and an unnerving, bordering on haunting energy. Directly following ‘Breath of Light’ is ‘Nothing Works’, a bright and tough track on the perils of self-doubt, uncertainty, and the fear that your life has stalled. ‘Mezzanine’ keeps things dreamy and light as McKenna floats through horns and synths creating a soft but bright little world. This ability to create a vivid universe from a single song is What Happened to the Beach’s biggest strength. Whether it's the intricate instrumentals or pointedly repetitive and catchy lyrics, McKenna’s songs concretely manifest themselves. Moving on to my personal favorite from the album, ‘It’s an Act’, feels reminiscent of some of Mac Miller’s more laid back songs. Angelic backing vocals, and punctuating drums keep the song moving through a mellow, sunny landscape into an extended musical break filled with hopeful, if not longing, horns.

All in all, What Happened to the Beach is an album that gets better the more attention you give it and the closer you zoom in – so make some time and give it a listen.