Victoria Legrand


Victoria Garance Alixe Legrand is a French-American musician, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter and keyboardist of the dream pop duo Beach House.

Early life

Legrand was born in Paris, France, and was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was trained on piano as a child, but says she quit studying at age eighteen. She studied drama at Vassar College. After graduating in 2003, she relocated to Paris to study acting at the International Theatre School of Jacques Lecoq. Becoming "disenchanted with theater school," she moved to Baltimore in 2004.
She is the niece of the French composer Michel Legrand and Christiane Legrand of The Swingle Singers. As a teenager, she was part of a Led Zeppelin cover band.

Career

In 2004, Legrand met Baltimore-native Alex Scally, and they quickly formed a two-piece band. Legrand often mentions how organically they work together, and how, in Scally, she found her "musical soulmate." The two have recorded seven studio albums as Beach House: Beach House, Devotion, Teen Dream, Bloom, Depression Cherry and Thank Your Lucky Stars, and 7.

Musicianship

Vocal style

Legrand possesses a contralto vocal range. Some music outlets have compared her vocals to those of Nico and Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval.

Songwriting and influences

Legrand and Scally write music anywhere between eight and 16 hours a day, and strive to create thoughtful music they feel strongly about. Legrand often emphasizes the honesty, thoughtfulness, and authenticity Beach House tries to get across in their music. Legrand laments the references to Beach House as being "wafty, wavy, floaty, dreamy," and insists on the band's loudness and all-encompassing soundscapes they create: "We are a loud band. OK, so it's not abrasive, but it's not soft."
Legrand has said in interviews that she wishes audiences would focus on the craft of their songwriting; She commented, "what you're feeling is the craft, that everything is there with intention," as opposed to the individual sounds that surround "the real meat of it all....There's a lot of great sounds in music, but it's not gonna necessarily make you feel something." She is protective of the identity of the band and cautiously chooses how they expose themselves to their audience.
Musically, she has cited The Cure, the Cocteau Twins, Gene Clark, and Neil Young as influences.

Discography

Guest appearances