Last year’s What A Pleasure EP really saw Dustin Payseur opening up the mind and lungs of his Beach Fossils project to allow it to fully conceptualize and breathe life into the ideas that the 2010 debut album had presented. “Shallow,” the first single from Beach Fossils’ to-be-announced sophomore full-length, continues along that broader and brighter musical palette that What A Pleasure introduced, and with it creates one of Beach Fossils’ poppiest tunes to date.
That might not be exactly what Payseur wants us to take away from it, though. In an interview with Spin about the upcoming album he pronounced that “People have been playing this pretty music that’s quiet and melodic and while there’s beauty in that, in making this album I’ve just ended up wanting to rebel against myself and make something really noisy.” Well, if he has made truly made some rebellious and noisy tracks, this ain’t it.
That takes nothing away from its quality though. Just one listen to the purposeful chug of the drums and rhythm guitar, coupled with the delightful secondary guitar melody and playful bass will have you hooked instantly. Payseur’s vocals are the most similar to what he’s described, with lines like “I won’t sit here, I won’t take it” hinting at some underlying dissatisfaction. However, the vocal delivery is Payseur’s trademark breezy style, which fits nicely between the laid-back style of the rest of the song, melding together a pretty much perfect piece of jangle pop.
MP3: Beach Fossils – “Shallow”
