Space Song

Beach House had been making quietly perfect records for a decade before “Space Song” became the accidental soundtrack to an entire generation’s late-night scrolling. The song is built around a synth patch that shimmers like a streetlight refracted through a rain-streaked windshield — unhurried, unembarrassed, infinitely patient.

Victoria Legrand’s vocal sits right at the front of the mix but refuses to assert itself. It’s a song that doesn’t want anything from you. You could listen to it three times in a row on a drive home and the second and third listens would be different from the first without anything in the song having changed.