Beach Fossils

Despite a sickening excess of beach-loving lo-fi bands, Brooklynite Dustin Payseur has gone for the slightly unfortunate name of Beach Fossils for his newly constructed project. The trio do stick to that lo-fi aesthetic du jour, but they're a band better suited to the autumn than the hot, stickiness of summer, and thank God for that. Much like the Clientele once did, Beach Fossils dig into the treasure trove of British indie pop, copping moves from long-gone acts like McCarthy, Felt and, especially, Sarah Records' Sea Urchins. Beach Fossils do add some updated slacker-isms to their self-titled Captured Tracks debut, but, for better or worse, this is a retro exercise, although a pleasant one, thanks to Payseur's fetching vocal hooks, some well-played subtlety and the right amount of laidback charm. While not coming from exactly the same place, the band tap a similar soft focus vibe as labelmate Wild Nothing, and if you've been rocking his new record all summer, Beach Fossils will make that turn to fall that much easier.