Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	62/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	B+
Evening Standard
The Guardian
The Irish Times
musicOMH
NME	8/10
The Observer
Paste	8.3/10
Sputnikmusic	3.5/5

Beacon is the second studio album by Northern Irish indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club. It was released on 31 August 2012 by Kitsuné. The album was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Jacknife Lee in his home studios.

"Sleep Alone" was released as the lead single from the album on 20 July 2012. The album's second single, "Sun", was released on 16 November 2012. "Next Year" was released as the album's third single on 15 February 2013, followed by "Handshake" on 31 May 2013. The album was reissued on 28 October 2013 including the song "Changing of the Seasons", which was released as the lead single from the EP of the same name.

The band have produced a four-part documentary titled What We See, which depicts their European summer tour prior to the release of Beacon. In relation to touring, lead singer Trimble explained, "The past few years have sort have been not necessarily a struggle, but a learning curve. So it's learning to be in touch with the people you leave behind and learning to just deal with the ridiculousness of it all." The documentary was filmed by Gregg Houston (Babysweet Sessions), a friend of the band.

Beacon received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 62, based on 18 reviews. Megan Farokhmanesh of Paste wrote that "Beacon isn't a step up from Tourist History, but rather a brother to it. The band returns with tunes that can operate as low-volume background noise or pumped-up danceable beats. There's very little progression or change in their sound, but that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing." Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly commented the album "tempers its galloping pop gait with frontman Alex Trimble's Ben Gibbard-y confessionals. And at their best, tracks like 'Sleep Alone' and 'Wake Up' come off like a less grandstanding Killers—human and dancer." Katherine Rodgers of the NME stated the album "blitzes in on a flurry of discordant, M83-style synth-fuzz, and while it doesn't stray far from their trademark tinkly guitar lines and infectious choruses, it's laced with New Order-ish disco trimmings", while noting it is "undoubtedly a more sophisticated release than Tourist History—even if, in places, it feels thematically confused."

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