Beach Fossils | Beach Fossils

The May 25th release date for Brooklyn-based Beach Fossils‘ debut LP is more than apt. The record sounds like summer, so why not send it public on Memorial Day Weekend?

The titles of their songs describe their sound (“Daydream,” “Golden Age,” “Lazy Day,” “Vacation”) but if you need a comparison, think Wavves and the Marine Girls. It’s unabrasive, BBQ-friendly lo-fi.

It’s a short record, and each track blends into the next. It’s difficult to distinguish them from each other. If there has to be a standout track on this record — and I’m hard pressed to find one, as the whole album sounds fairly cohesive — it’s likely “Youth,” where the vocal melody echoes beautifully, coasting along the surface of ringing, reverb-soaked guitars. The lyrics, unsurprisingly, are relatively ambivalent, “I don’t know just what I feel / But I feel it all tonight.”

It’s music that sounds like it doesn’t try very hard. It creates an easy mood that carries through every track. Though Beach Fossils won’t be at the top of anyone’s year-end list, they certainly should be played at all rooftop barbecues. In a sense they’ll pass by easily and leave a vague, happy impression, to be remembered in some nostalgic conversation about the summer of 2010.

by Joe Veix