Beach Fossils No Longer a One-Man Show

Of the 11 songs on Beach Fossils' self-titled debut, out now via Captured Tracks, nine were performed entirely by singer, multi-instrumentalist and founder Dustin Payseur. If that sounds like the work of a control freak -- murky surf-pop's answer to Prince or Trent Reznor -- Payseur says he never intended to go it alone.

"When I moved up here, I wanted to form a full band, but I didn't know anybody else," Payseur tells Spinner, recalling his 2008 artistic pilgrimage from North Carolina to Brooklyn. "So I was just recording by myself and finally met the right people, and now we're recording new material as a full band. That's definitely what it's turned into."

Payseur says the process by which his one-man operation became a proper group was entirely organic.

"I started meeting more people, going to shows, meeting musicians," he says. "I met a band called Prince Rama, and I'd asked them if they knew any musicians, and they introduced me to Chris [Burke], who's the guitar player. I met him through them, and then I did put an ad on the website saying I need musicians, and John [Pena], who's now the bass player, contacted me, and he sent me some of his music."

Burke and Pena share a fondness for self-recording, and when they auditioned for the Beach Fossils job, they did so by sending Payseur some of their bedroom recordings. By the end of the 'Beach Fossils' recording sessions, Payseur had asked both to join.

"We all have our own solo projects, so I got to hear their music before I asked them to be in the band," Payseur says. "I trust their creativity and their musical abilities, and it was stuff I liked listening to."

"We've become really close," he adds. "Musically, we all come from a similar place. The other members have been putting just as much input in the new songs, and I think it's definitely a move for the best, because now we mesh really well, and the creativity flows the same way it did when I was by myself. There's not as much pressure for me to write good material all the time. I can sit back and take it easy a little more, and we can all write together."

Proof the new system is working: Payseur says the trio has already amassed enough material for a second Beach Fossils full-length, which he suspects will see release sometime next year.

"None of us have jobs, and the only thing we really care about is making music," he says. "Every time we hang out, instead of sitting around and killing time, we're just working on songs and playing music, just for fun."