Photos of Beach Fossils at Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, NY on October 28th, 2017
Live review of Beach Fossils at House of Vans in Brooklyn, NY on June 1st, 2017
Photos of Beach Fossils at Central Park SummerStage in New York, NY on July 18th, 2016
Photos of Beach Fossils at CMJ 2014 in New York, NY
Photos of Beach Fossils at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn, NY on September 26th, 2014
Photos of Beach Fossils at 2013 Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX
Photos of Beach Fossils at Captured Tracks’ CT5 anniversary event in Brooklyn, NY
Photos of Beach Fossils at 2013 Downtown Music Festival in New York, NY
Photos of Beach Fossils at Irving Plaza in New York, NY on New Years Eve, 2012
Photos of Beach Fossils at Santos Party House in New York, NY on September 28th, 2011
Beach Fossils’ sound is so sweet that it can struggle to stand out. Like a nice breeze or screensaver, one can forget that it’s there, even while enjoying it. New record Somersault trades in some of the neo-eighties fuzz of 2014’s Clash the Truth (QRO review) for seventies natural sounds, but still is more background music than a gripping journey.
From opener “This Year” to closer “That’s All For Now”, Somersault is sweet, relaxed, and never not nice enough. There are some pieces that add a little more weight and pressure to make something more, such as “Down the Line”, but also a few that really slip into forgettable, like “May 1st”. “Saint Ivy” stands out for what sounds like an out-and-out seventies flute solo; meanwhile, “Rise” has the random soul spoken word from Cities Aviv.
While a stylistic change to degrees, Somersault is still very much Beach Fossils: a sweet background.