American musician Bayonne has expressed his excitement at joining indie pop duo Sylvan Esso on their European tour and admitted he still refuses to categorise his music.
As a live one-man band, Bayonne, aka Roger Sellers, uses loop pedals like Jacob Collier, James Blake and Ed Sheeran to create layers. However, he doesn’t define himself as an electric musician.
He said:“I never really saw myself as a big fan of electronic music. Many of the bands I started listening to in my early twenties were electronic influenced, but I was never a huge dance music guy,” he said.
“I think what drew me into electronic music was the ability to loop and perform live without having a full band or orchestra. I don’t label my music electronic. I just appreciate layers and repetition, which electronic gear allows me to do,” he added.
Bayonne will be playing at the Sebright Arms this Friday November 3 before supporting Sylvain Esso at the 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on November 8.
Hailing from Austin, Texas, Bayonne has years of music-making behind him. His eponymous debut album, was self-released in 2012 on bandcamp where his music is described as a place that ‘Philip Glass, Sufjan Stevens, and Joanna Newson all groove to late night ambient house music in George Martin’s living room.’
Five years and three albums later, Sellers now goes by the name Bayonne and is achieving international success. Last year he was listed as one of the ’10 New Artists You Need to Know’ in the Rolling Stones magazine and he has just come back from playing in LA and Michigan.
Now producing music under the Mom+Pop label, this will be his fourth trip to the UK.
“Touring with Sylvan Esso is sort of a dream come true so, needless to say, I’m incredibly excited,” he said.
“I’ll be playing a mix of songs from Primitives and some new stuff that I want to try as well,” he added.
Primitives is Bayonne’s début studio album, re-released under his new label. Some of the new material he will be sharing includes his newest single, ‘I Know’ which is out now.
Despite international tours and a label deal, Bayonne continues to do a lot of work independently.
“I still record mostly at home and do most of the mixing and editing myself. Recently though, I’ve been working with other people with technical abilities and amazing gear to push my mixes and masters even further: mixing an entire record in the box by yourself can be a nightmare.”
