Bio:
Formed in Brooklyn in 2009, BEACH FOSSILS helped carry the torch for the lo-fi dream-pop sound that emerged during that time alongside fellow Captured Tracks peers like Wild Nothing, DIIV and MacDemarco. Their 2010 self-titled debut album was met with rave reviews and their 2011 What a Pleasure became a cult classic amongst fans. They’d go on to put out two more critically acclaimed records, 2013’s Clash The Truth and 2017’s Somersault, which featured vocals from Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell and was deemed the band’s best work yet from Pitchfork, Paste, Skinny, All Music and more.
Their latest album Somersault included more complex instrumentation like piano, flute and sax, hinting for the first time at Payseur’s deep affection for jazz music. When listening to his favourite jazz artists, specifically their ballads, he says “the rest of the world melts away and I sink into a blissful haze.” While not obvious when soaking up BEACH FOSSILS’s jangly indie rock songs, jazz music has always influenced Payseur’s songwriting, as he remarks “I’ve regularly attempted to harness the feeling that I get while listening to jazz and pour it into my songs. There’s always been an element of jazz in Beach Fossils; chords are rarely played, instead the instruments typically play single-notes that come together to create chords. I think a lot of that comes from listening to jazz trios and quartets, hearing the way that the instruments weave in and out of each other, leaving space for each other, instruments coming up front for a bit while others wait.”

Payseur’s affinity for jazz was shared by Tommy Gardner who played drums on Clash The Truth. Payseur reminisces that whenever there was a piano in the green room whilst on tour, Gardner would start improvising BEACH FOSSILS songs in a jazzy style. “I was astounded by the amount of musical talent that he possessed. He would be playing melodies for the guitars, bass and vocals all together, and it was always beautiful. I couldn’t understand how the fuck he’d learned all of that just from sitting behind the drum kit every night. For years I had the idea of turning these piano versions of Beach Fossils songs into an album, and in 2020 when touring came to a sudden halt due to covid, I reached out to Gardner and asked if he wanted to finally make this album.” The result is a gorgeous, intoxicating collection of some of BEACH FOSSILS’ most beloved tunes, experienced through a totally fresh sonic lens.