SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: BEACH FOSSILS – THE OTHER SIDE OF LIFE: PIANO BALLADS

Beach Fossils
The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads
Bayonet Records

Four years after their last studio album Somersault, Beach Fossils has reworked eight songs from their back catalogue into a compilation of slower jazz arrangements featuring piano and saxophone. The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads offers a new perspective to the band’s previous work and represents a significant departure from music mostly characterized by guitar-driven, indie, and dream pop sounds.

The change from dream pop to jazz is most apparent in Dustin Payseur’s vocals. His once drowned out and breathy vocals are replaced with a much clearer delivery. This brings about an intriguing reinterpretation of the band’s past tracks by switching the focus from the guitar melodies to the lyrics, making many of the songs feel more intimate. In the opener “This Year,” Payseur wants to become a better person. “By now, I told myself I’d be a better friend / I’ll meet you on the other side of life.”

Although the instrumentation is occasionally beautiful in its melancholy, the tracks can begin to sound similar to one another, especially when hearing the album in full. This makes it best suited for a casual listen. For fans of Beach Fossils, The Other Side of Life: Piano Ballads is a worthy revisit to the band’s earlier works, but it may not have much staying power with new listeners.

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