This story is featured in CityBeat’s Sept. 6 print edition.
Being Dead reminds us that music can be oodles of fun. From their debut full-length When Horses Would Run, to their colorful Instagram, to their library of delightfully unhinged music videos, the Austin band welcomes you into a merry and strange universe.
Core members Falcon Bitch and Gumball seem to lean into the fiction of performance. They take their role as musicians a step beyond the norm and perform an entire world, reveling in the knowledge that people are watching. It’s a sort of peacocking reminiscent of early Of Montreal performances.
Beach Fossils’ label Bayonet Records released When Horses Would Run this past July. The album was well received. Paste called it “the most exciting debut of 2023 so far,” Pitchfork gave it 7.5 stars, and Post-Trash praised it for being “endlessly fun to listen to.”
The album kicks off with “The Great American Picnic,” composed of surf rock guitar, reverb-drenched harmonies and breezy lines like “Joy is everlasting wine/Pick a little baby flower place it on your bride.” In the music video, Falcon Bitch and Gumball appear as giants who destroy a village, gobbling up its occupants like hotdogs, before an even bigger giant Falcon Bitch and Gumball destroy them.
From there, the band moves through songs about buffalo, a hippie town that worships trees and an anthem called “We Are Being Dead.” All the while, the music stays playful and imaginative, bringing together components of boppy art rock, sweet melodies and candid recording moments. It calls to mind indie acts like Dehd and the Moldy Peaches, and ‘60s bands like The Kinks and The Beach Boys. Being Dead is weird and wonderful, catchy and cool and the perfect soundtrack for late-summer merriment.
Being Dead plays MOTR Pub at 9:30 p.m. Sept. 15. Info: motrpub.com.
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This article appears in Aug 23 – Sep 5, 2023.