''What Happened to the Beach?'' is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter

Declan McKenna Declan Benedict McKenna (born 24 December 1998) is an English singer-songwriter. He initially gained recognition for winning the Glastonbury Festival's Emerging Talent Competition in 2015. McKenna self-released the song "Brazil (Declan McKenna s ...

. It was released on 9 February 2024 under his own label, Tomplicated. Produced by Gianluca Buccellati and inspired by McKenna's experiences in California, the album's style and sound marks a significant departure from his previous record, '' Zeros'' (2020). Four

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

preceded ''What Happened to the Beach?'', including "Sympathy" and "Nothing Works".

Background and release

In September 2020,

released his second studio album, '' Zeros,'' to widespread positive reception. It peaked at No. 2 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. Following a tour of North America from May 2023, he released the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

"Sympathy" on 6 July 2023 alongside a music video. He said the track was a "stark introduction to the new world

e had E, or e, is the fifth Letter (alphabet), letter and the second vowel#Written vowels, vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others wo ...

created," and promised a strong sonic departure from his previous work. A second single, "Nothing Works", was released on 13 September when McKenna announced the title and release date of ''What Happened to the Beach?''. Two more singles were later released: "Elevator Hum" in December 2023, and "Mulholland's Dinner and Wine" in January 2024. McKenna played several album launch concerts through the UK and Ireland following the album's release on 9 February 2024.

Composition

Produced by Gianluca Beccellati, ''What Happened to the Beach?'' is described as a " guitar-pop heavy record", and marks a stylistic departure from his previous album, ''Zeros''. In a press release, McKenna cited

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Unknown Mortal Orchestra (also known as UMO) is a New Zealand psychedelic rock band from Auckland and now based in Portland, Oregon, Portland, Oregon. Fronted by multi-instrumentalist Ruban Nielson, assisted by his brother The Mint Chicks, Kod ...

and

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305 ...

as his biggest inspirations going into recording. Reflecting on ''Zeros'', the singer said he wanted to distance himself from its

soapbox A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment ...

ing in the new album: "I was putting a lot of pressure on myself in the past when I just needed to drop the intensity a bit and have some fun," he said.

Critical reception

''What Happened to the Beach?'' received a score of 82 out of 100 on review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

based on eight critics' reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Reviewing for British arts magazine ''

The Arts Desk ''The Arts Desk'' (theartsdesk.com) is a British arts journalism website containing reviews, interviews, news, and other content related to music, theatre, television, films, and other art forms written by journalists from a variety of tradition ...

'', Thomas Green said ''What Happened to the Beach?'' was a "sunny and stoned-sounding affair," and a "cheerfully offbeat adventure in the possibilities of studio recording." He said its sound recalled the music of

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

and

Django Django Django Django are a British art rock band based in London, England. Formed in 2009, the band has released five studio albums starting with their self-titled debut in 2012. Their latest album '' Off Planet'' was released on 16 June 2023. Hist ...

. Daisy Carter of '' DIY'' called the album was "undoubtedly his most eclectic offering to date," and "an exercise in refined ideas and original execution." Reviewing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', Ben Beaumont-Thomas said "few recent major-label albums have sounded this authentically

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

," and praised its inventiveness. Writing for ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'', Finlay Holden praised the album's sonic identity, relatability and creativity, saying the record was "a completely unexpected turn in sonic and lyrical form from an artist we thought we knew pretty well already, but it's also 100% genuine Declan McKenna".

Track listing

This track listing is for physical editions of the album. Tracks 1, 8, 10, and 16 are not included on digital editions.

Personnel

Musicians * Declan McKenna – vocals (tracks 1–9, 11–16),

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

(tracks 1, 4–7, 9, 11, 13, 14 and 16), bass (tracks 1, 4, 5, 9, 12–14 and 16), guitar (tracks 2, 4–9, 11, 12, 14 and 15),

Mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

(tracks 2–4, 6, 11–14),

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of t ...

(tracks 3 and 5),

penny whistle The tin whistle, also known as the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, a class of instrument which also includes the recorder and Native American flute. A tin whistle player is called a whistl ...

(tracks 3 and 6),

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These mu ...

(tracks 4 and 12),

lap steel The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar or lap slide guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of play ...

(track 5), percussion (tracks 5, 9, 11–14),

balafon The balafon (pronounced , or, by analogy with ''xylophone'' etc., ) is a gourd-resonated xylophone, a type of struck idiophone. It is closely associated with the neighbouring Mandé peoples, Mandé, Bwaba Bobo people, Bobo, Senufo people, Seno ...

(track 7),

cajón A cajón ( ; "box, crate, drawer") is a box-shaped percussion instrument originally from Peru, played by slapping the front or rear faces (generally thin plywood) with the hands, fingers, or sometimes implements such as brushes, mallets, or st ...

(track 7), additional drums (tracks 9 and 14),

Farfisa Farfisa () is a manufacturer of electronics based in Osimo, Italy, founded in 1946. The company manufactured a series of compact electronic organs in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Compact, FAST, Professional and VIP ranges, and later, a se ...

(track 12),

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

(track 12), organ (track 13) * Gianluca Buccellati – drums (tracks 1, 3, 5, 9, 14 and 16), backing vocals (tracks 1, 15 and 16), bass (tracks 3, 5, 6 and 12), synths (tracks 3–7, 11–14), drum programming (tracks 3, 6 and 12), lap steel (tracks 5 and 6), percussion (tracks 5, 6, 13 and 14), Mellotron (tracks 11, 12 and 14), piano (track 12), trumpet (tracks 13 and 14) * Eli Smart – guitar (tracks 1, 12 and 16), backing vocals (tracks 1, 4 and 16), bass (tracks 2 and 6), lap steel (tracks 3 and 5) * Kala Swift – spoken word (track 1) * Neil Comber – drum programming (track 2) * Jason Boesel – additional percussion (tracks 2, 6 and 12) * Allie Kelly – backing vocals (tracks 3, 4 and 13) * Laura Jennings – backing vocals (tracks 3, 5 and 9), percussion (tracks 5 and 9) * Jules Apollinaire – drum programming (track 3), percussion (track 5), backing vocals (track 15) * William Bishop – additional drum programming (tracks 4 and 12) * Allie Buckley – backing vocals (track 4) * Mark C Brown –

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone (sometimes abbreviated to "bari sax") is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass saxophone, bass. It is the lowe ...

(track 5) * Henry Pearce – flute (track 5), percussion (tracks 5 and 9), backing vocals (tracks 5 and 9) * Jack Banjo Courtney – trumpet (track 5) * Clari Freeman Taylor – cello (track 5) * Ben Quinn – backing vocals (tracks 5 and 9), percussion (tracks 5 and 9) * Josh McClorey – backing vocals (tracks 5 and 9), percussion (tracks 5 and 9), lap steel (track 7) * Connor Price – backing vocals (tracks 5 and 9), percussion (tracks 5 and 9) * Jake Passmore – guitar (tracks 7 and 9), percussion (track 7), synths (track 7), backing vocals (tracks 7 and 9) * Lukas Kuprecht – drums (tracks 7 and 12) * Simon Oscroft – vocals (track 10), guitar (track 10) * Chris Berry – drums (tracks 11 and 13)

Charts

References

{{Declan McKenna 2024 albums Declan McKenna albums