Bayonne – Filters Review

I’ll be straight: Bayonne is an artist I hadn’t heard of before being offered a chance to listen to his latest LP, Filters, ahead of its release in September. It’s described as an “indie-avant-pop” album, and the overall concept intrigued me, especially as Bayonne (also known as Roger Sellers) lists Enya as one of his influences. But does Filters offer enough to keep me hooked?

Filters is a 40-odd-minute album of lush synths, twinkling piano melodies, and atmospheric walls of sound that absolutely smack you in the face right from the opening track. Unexpected is a slow burn at first, with a synth-drenched acoustic build-up that opens into a huge soundscape of noise and reverb-soaked vocals that lulls you into a sense of what you think this album is about. Then Good Enough throws in an indie-folk-like boom-clap, evolving into an upbeat indie-electronic bop that lays further foundations for what to expect from this LP.

When it comes to indie-electronic/electro-pop, I have quite a specific taste made up of artists like Imogen Heap, Porter Robinson, Passion Pit, The Temper Trap, and Chvrches. Bayonne almost scratches that itch with his blend of lush instrumentation and laid-back vocal melodies, which at times do remind me a lot of The Temper Trap in the way it all delicately dances around one another.

The production and instrumental work on Filters is fantastic. Listening through both speakers and headphones, it’s well-balanced without sounding too overwhelming, especially given how many wide-open sounds there are throughout this album. It’s musically very BIG, with massive walls of sound delicately crashing into your eardrums, which I know is a bit of an oxymoron, but that’s exactly what Bayonne has achieved with this release. Utilising field recordings is a really nice touch as I think that’s what makes the album feel so acoustically spacious.

Filters definitely feels like an album you have to throw yourself into. At first, I wasn’t so sure it’d be for me, but after a couple of listens, it has really grown on me. It’s a fine balance of upbeat, poppy electro and gentle, lush synth pop, while lyrically being quite deep. The track Multiphase, which was one of the first tracks written for this album, touches on acceptance and grieving after the passing of his father.

Not to gush too much over the instrumentation, but for an album that features songs based on a lot of loops, Bayonne manages to build songs that don’t sound too repetitive. There’s a natural progression to some of the tracks that help shape the looping foundation into something that feels fresh and new, and I applaud that. While Sellers has previously composed a lot of his music solo, Filters features many collaborations with drummer Matt Toman, providing maximalist and dynamic percussion to some of the songs, which I feel contributed to a lot of the loop-based songs feeling more fluid.

Aesthetically, this album is a rich and densely layered indietronica album that sprinkles in elements of synth-pop,neo-psychedelia, chillwave and ambient that are sometimes a little abstract. The mix of upbeat anthemic choruses alongside quieter moments of contemplation serves up this album as one that you can’t just digest the first time you listen to it.

Overall, Filters is an incredibly pleasant listen and one that I’ll likely be revisiting a few more times. There’s a relaxing quality to this album that I enjoy; while it’s not quite as ambient as, say, Enya or Boards of Canada, it’s not overly upbeat like Passion Pit and Chvrches. There’s enough to keep you listening without overwhelming you with flourishes or big beats. Despite being a little under 40 minutes, it almost didn’t feel long enough; as soon as it started, it was over.

Score: 7.5/10

Bayonne is to release Filters on September 4 via Nettwerk.