I wonder whether the Beach Fossils thought long and hard about the order of the songs on their new album »Bunny«. Listened to from start to finish, the LP sounds like a single, sultry, feverish dream that combines the most emotional and tender facets of post-punk, dream-pop and shoegaze in the early summer. There’s »Numb«, for example, on which singer Dustin Payseur openly laments love and his emotional ambivalence towards it. His voice comes from afar, but remains more audible than on, say, Slowdive. »Run To The Moon« has something of Mazzy Star about it, only the Beach Fossils negotiate heartbreak, grief or other emotional burdens with an endearing naivety, wrapping them up in cotton wool that makes it seem plausible why they are playing Coachella, for example.
»Tough Love« neglects melody in favour of a unity of drums and music that comes dangerously close to indie radio and, by extension, potential triviality. The band is more powerful when they don’t overload the soundscape, but leave room for the individual components, for example on »Anything Is Anything« or the closing track »Waterfall«. On the whole, however, everything fits together perfectly and, as mentioned at the outset, feels as if it has been cast from the same mould. Self-confidently presented mood music that proudly puts its potential hit – »Dare Me« – front and centre.
