Beach Fossils Mix Classical With Joy Division

Posted on Jun 23rd 2010 4:00PM by Kenneth Partridge
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Dustin Payseur is minimalist to the max, a musician who can't even be called a three-chord wonder. On the self-titled debut album from his Brooklyn trio, Beach Fossils, the native North Carolinian mostly forgoes playing chords altogether, using layers of melodic guitar and bass leads to achieve a level of sub-punk simplicity.

"Maybe it came from listening to a lot of classical music," Payseur tells Spinner. "I probably have twice the amount of classical records as I do any other genre. I listen to it a lot and listen to how the songs are composed and how the instruments flow and are layered on top of each other. I was definitely inspired by that. It has a very clean feeling."

The thought of Payseur rocking out to Mozart and Beethoven may come as a surprise, given Beach Fossils' lax, sun-dazed, slightly melancholy guitar-pop sound. His approach to guitar and bass is reminiscent of Peter Hook, the melody-prone bass player for apparent Beach Fossils influences Joy Division and New Order.

"I take some influence from them, but I feel like it was a coincidence, for the most part," Payseur says. "The way I play all the instruments, both guitar and bass, I feel like I approach them all in a bass style. I play them all in a very similar style, where it's not specifically a guitar or a bass style, kind of a blend. They mesh together into something new."

When Payseur created Beach Fossils, it was essentially his nom de rock, a one-man bedroom-pop project launched in the fall of 2009. By the time he finished recording his debut, out now on Captured Tracks, he'd recruited two other members, guitarist Chris Burke and bassist John Pena. Performed with six hands, rather than two, Payseur says, the songs have taken on new dimensions.

"They're a lot faster," he says. "They're a lot more aggressive. I also left a lot of room when I was working the other band members. Since the very first time they came over, I told them they can take it where they want. They can change things. I wanted to allow them that freedom so it would be fun for them. And every show -- sometimes, maybe, you'll try something new on the spot, and next time you play a show, you just do it again, because you liked it. The songs are constantly changing."