Beach Fossils : Bunny

Beach Fossils came out of the early 2010s Captured Track scene, along with bands like Wild Nothing, Craft Spells and DIIV. Beach Fossils debut was more lo fi and bedroom pop, with band founder/songwriter Dustin Payseur’s vocals sounding as if they were emanating from a haunted conk shell residing on some melancholy shore line. The music was simple, yet invited you to get lost in its dreamy melodies. Before you knew it, you’d listened to that debut three times in a row and were readying for a fourth.

With their follow-up, 2013’s excellent Clash The Truth, Beach Fossils adopted more of a studio sheen, but kept the instrumentation to guitar/bass/vocals/drums. There was more of a post-punk feel to the record, as if Payseur was working out some angst. In 2017 the band emerged from a four year hiatus on a new label and a more modern sound with Somersault, while still retaining their dreamy yet angular delivery. Horns and a soulful quality were brought as well, giving Payseur and Beach Fossils a more diverse, widescreen sound.

Beach Fossils has returned with the excellent Bunny. Bunny takes everything that’s come before and blends the classic and modern sounds beautifully. There’s moments where the band has the tight rhythmic vibe of early REM, while at other times locking into the poppier side of The Cure. Bunny is an album with everything. 11 songs of dream pop bliss and melancholy longing.

Dustin Payseur is a songwriter and musician that wants to evolve and reshape his music. Somersault proved he wanted to expand the band’s sound with strings, horns, harpsichord, and woodwinds. In 2021 Payseur released The Other Side Of Life : Piano Ballads, a collection of Beach Fossils’ songs re-imagined as jazz-inflected piano ballads. Imagine Vince Guaraldi Trio covering Beach Fossils and you’re on the right track to getting the vibe. It was kind of brilliant. Bunny is more in line with past Beach Fossils albums, but with a more jangle and summertime shimmer.

“Sleeping On My Own” opens the album on a Byrds vibe, complete with McGuinn-esque 12-string electric and a Laurel Canyon haze. “Don’t Fade Away” has a more angular sound, reminiscent of Seventeen Seconds-era Cure. Payseur’s voice here has echos of Blue Oyster Cult’s Buck Dharma. “Feel So High” has the dream pop weightlessness of Cocteau Twins. Beach Fossils locks into late-80s/early-90s shoegaze beautifully here.

While still giving us plenty of hazy vibes and dreamy melodies, Bunny is Beach Fossils at their most upfront and clear-eyed. The songs are more present than ever, with “Seconds” a pure joy rocker filled with light and life. “Waterfall” closes the album with a wistful, thoughtful melancholy. The band meshes so well here, inviting you to hit play as soon as the song ends for another round.

Beach Fossils sounds like a band ever-evolving, while never losing that intimate, bedroom pop feel that made their debut so engaging. Dustin Payseur came out of that early 2010s Brooklyn/Captured Tracks scene that brought melodies and atmosphere back into the fold. Payseur and Beach Fossils helped bring an intimacy and introspection back into rock and roll, along with Wild Nothing’s Jack Tatum, DIIV’s Zachary Cole Smith, and Craft Spells’ Justin Vallesteros. Bunny is the sound of a band continuing to find themselves and reinvent what came before. It’s a near perfect and bittersweet indie pop album. The kind that when it’s playing in the car, you keep driving around the block till the last song ends.