Beach Fossils share new jazz rework of 'Down The Line', taken from piano rework album (Nov 19th, Bayonet).
Today the legendary Beach Fossils have shared a jazz rendition of their song 'Down The Line', originally lifted from their critically acclaimed 2017 album Somersault. It's taken from the forthcoming album of stunning piano reworks of some of their most popular songs, The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads, arriving November 19th on Bayonet Records (Frankie Cosmos, Benét, Kinlaw). The project, spearheaded by frontman Dustin Payseur, is a rich and mellow mix of piano, saxophone, upright bass and brushed drums to explore the contours of familiar songs, soaring Payseur's melancholic harmonies to new heights.
Says Payseur:
"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."
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 Mac Demarco. 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.
Inspired by a love of artists such as Bill Evans, Lester Young, Chet Baker and Vince Guaraldi, Payseur reimagines some of his greatest hits from the Beach Fossils catalogue alongside a group of formally trained jazz musicians, including former drummer Tommy Gardner. On The Other Side Of Life, Gardner plays piano, saxophone and upright bass with Henry Kwapis on drums and Payseur's vocals acting as the common thread between the original versions and these breathtaking renditions. Payseur’s affinity for jazz was shared by 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. Paysuer elaborates:
“A song by itself is naked, there are endless possibilities for how to dress a song and every choice creates a radically different outcome. Making this album let me step back and see these
songs from a new perspective. I hope you’ll enjoy what we’ve done with them.”
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