Bunny

Not including the strange 2021 sidebar effort The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads (a collection of smoky jazz reworkings of older songs), Bunny is the first album from Brooklyn band Beach Fossils since 2017s Somersault. Some of its 11 tracks return decidedly to the dreamy, restless bedroom pop sound the group perfected when they first arrived in the late 2000s, but many tracks explore new sounds that mirror their lyrical sentiments about growing out of the recklessness of youth. The layers of spindly guitars, pushy bass lines, and vocal harmonies dripping with longing on songs like "Dont Fade Away" and "Dare Me" are cut from the same dreamy cloth as the bands earliest material, only rendered less hazy with cleaner mixing and more precise arrangements. Beach Fossils stopped hiding behind plumes of thick reverb a few albums into their discography, but theres a tightness in the playing here that makes the chiming melancholia of songs like "Tough Love" feel less obscured by haziness. Singer/songwriter/bandleader (and in the case of Bunny, producer) Dustin Payseur investigates themes of maturation and sometimes painful progress with lyrics touching briefly on depression, grief, mortality, and wistful nostalgia for younger days he doesnt sound completely ready to let go of as the album spins on. Theres a sonic shift that reflects some of the evolving perspectives of the lyrics as well. Most notably, the influence of early shoegaze and the type of English psychedelic rock that came just before Britpop can be felt heavily on several tracks. The washed-out groove of "(Just Like The) Setting Sun" borrows from both Going Blank Again-era Ride and the hypnotic blur of early work by Spiritualized. "Feel So High" is similar, with a slow, bass-driven pace and softly droning melodies that sound like a hybrid of Oasis mellowest moments and the Verve. Its a new leaf for Beach Fossils, who sound more thoughtful, relaxed, and present on Bunny than they did on their always pleasant but sometimes emotionally vacant earlier material. The moderate pacing and more personally derived songwriting make the album one that demands closer attention to fully understand and enjoy, but it rewards that attention with some of the bands most nuanced and subtly detailed pop constructions to date, ultimately revealing new depths both musical and emotive. ~ Fred Thomas

ブルックリンのロック・シーンで活躍してきたバンドによる4枚目のアルバム。ほのかにサイケな空気を漂わせるサウンドと親しみやすいメロディーが光る。アズテック・カメラあたりのネオアコが脳裏に浮かぶ楽曲群を聴いて、懐かしさを感じるリスナーもいるだろう。とはいえ、ストリングスなどさまざまな試みが見られる内容は過去の焼き直しで終わっていない。
bounce (C)近藤真弥