Beach Fossils - 'Don't Fade Away'
Beach Fossils announce new upcoming album ‘Bunny’ with the release of new single, ‘Don’t Fade Away’.
Today Beach Fossils announce their new album ‘Bunny’, which will be their first studio album since their 2017 release of, ‘Somersault’. With this announcement, Beach Fossils presents the lead single, ‘Don’t Fade Away’ with accompanying visuals. The band’s latest release was ‘The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads’ 2021 album, which hit No.3 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Albums chart, and they recently cracked 7 million monthly listeners total across all platforms. Beach Fossils just does not stop there as they have sold-out concerts at venues including Brooklyn Steel in New York, The Wiltern in Los Angeles, and beyond that they played at Coachella, Bonnaroo, Primavera, and Post Malone’s Posty Fest.
Throughout the 15 years, Beach Fossils have steadily earned their stature as one of the most definitive and enduring bands of the 2010’s New York underground. They are consistently reaching new listeners as their sound has grown from the DIY solo project of Dustin Payseur to an influential four-piece dream pop band, self-produced, self-managed and self-released, and the upcoming album ‘Bunny’ represents strength through vulnerability. As they work with Bayonet Records which is a genre-expansive independent label Payseur founded in 2014, it continues to serve as an incubator for a diverse roster of developing artists.
‘Don’t Fade Away’ is an instant earworm. The video, which was directed by Kevin Clark, sees Payseur crooning across a beautiful array of late-night backdrops, with everything from elevator cabs to Los Angeles’ El Capitan Theatre. When talking about the new single Payseur adds; “‘Don’t Fade Away’ is about missing old friends, being on tour, self-medicating, longing, anxiety, love, being an idiot, having fun, embracing your mistakes and keeping your spark.”
From the poignant words about a family member’s cancer battle and the joys of being a father, to small but meaningful moments with friends. The awaited album is Beach Fossils most vivid and personal work to date. As the songs reflect on depression, love, loss, mistakes, adventure, New York City and friendships coming and going. Payseur’s collage-like lyrics communicate through tone and mood as much as narrative; New York poets like Frank O’Hara, Ted Berrigan, and Anne Waldman were on his desk, as was the Tao Te Ching.
In an interview, Bunny is a continuation of the stunning evolution of Beach Fossils’ sound, as it pulls the elements from the jangly melancholy from their 2011 EP release of, ‘What a Pleasure’, post-punk inspired tracks from their 2013 album, ‘Clash the Truth’ and the lush arrangements of their 2017 album, ‘Somersault’. ‘Bunny’ is inspired by the psych-pop of early Verve and Spiritualized albums and perennial influences like the Cure, Wire, the Byrds, and the Velvet Underground. With ‘Bunny’ being produced and recorded by Payseur himself, Lars Stalfors mixing and then throughout he was joined by the core band members guitarist Tommy Davidson, bassist Jack Doyle Smith and drummer Anton Hochheim.
Words by Beth Simms
