BEACH FOSSILS: BEACH FOSSILS

[rating:4.5]

Beach Fossils: Beach Fossils

Label: Captured Tracks

Release Date: May 25, 2010

We can whine about labels all we want but sometimes labels are helpful.  They prevent mistakes.

With labels, you’re less likely to mix up the dog’s generic value time peanut butter with the really good organic stuff or mistake the Swedish vampire film Let The Right One In with the latest Katherine Heigl Rom-Com.

Similarly, beachgaze or surfgaze is a pretty accurate descriptor you’re not likely to confuse with psych metal or day-glo hip-hop.

Likewise with beachgaze band d’jour, Beach Fossils.

The most aptly named band ever, the Brooklyn act’s self-titled debut LP is probably the easiest to get into and the hardest to get out of your head.

The sound?

Cheery bomp-a-bomp drums break high to the beat, muffled bass floats slow and low, and chimy, sea foam surf guitar rings out on an endless blue screen wave of reverb with vintage-sounding boy-girl (boy-boy) vox by way of The Raveonnettes.

One weird but welcome note – the bass curiously contradicts listeners with a muffled but out-in-front sound. At times, it sings more than the lead and remains on equal ground as its more obvious counterpart.

The vibe?

Light but not lite, bright but not blinding, laid back (but not in a surfer-turned-singer-songwriter sort of way) and surprisingly not sun-soaked.

Window View, a towards-the-back sleeper, best embodies the ‘Summer with the shades pulled’ mood most of the album conveys but single, Daydream and Should-be-next-single, Vacation are irony-free, fun-with-the-top-down proof that the band and its listeners both benefit from getting outdoors for some fresh air.

On all accounts, Beach Fossils is proof you don’t have to be a beachcomber, swimmer or surfer to make a great record that captures that summer sound. You don’t even have to be from a sunny climate.

Beach Fossils – Youth

– Casey Bowers