Caught in time with Bayonne.
photo by Kenneth Cius.
Bayonne, also known as Roger Sellers, is an American minimalist composer and electronic musician based in Austin, Texas. His latest album, Temporary Time, showcases the intricate looping melodies and layered compositions of his mesmerizing musical style. Rather than rely on catchy hooks strewn cyclically throughout the verse, Bayonne’s music builds upon itself. Throughout the composition, his loops increasingly layer onto each other, culminating into a symphony of sound. As a result of this layering, Bayonne’s style seems to lie somewhere between electronic and ambient. At the beginning of each song, when he’s starting to establish his loops, his manual curation of the sound comes across as very electronic. But as the song progresses, and the loops build upon themselves, the self-sustaining nature of the melody veers toward the ambient.
There’s no greater phenomenon than watching this take place live onstage. If Bayonne’s music is mesmerizing in itself, then his performance borders on the hypnotic. The beginning of each song is dedicated to establishing the perfect base melody on which to build from. Essentially, to the audience, this is Bayonne playing around with different instruments until he gets just the perfect combination of rhythm. From that point on, each layer is built on another, while Bayonne physically swirls through each elevating measure. Every succession is like another step into the ethereal, and every loop a voyage into the nonlinear. The reality is that each song is simultaneously endless and yet frustratingly curt. But you don’t listen to Bayonne to watch the clock.
photo by Kenneth Cius.
In our sit-down interview with Bayonne, he reminisced on the revised creative process he had in creating Temporary Time. He describes the pandemic as a “crazy emotional period of time,” and that for him, music creation served as a tool to get better, not just in his craft, but also emotionally and mentally. Creating Temporary Time helped to serve as an outlet for the turbulent emotions that he was going through. A big help for him during the creation of the album was extensive collaboration. Working with the likes of Danny Reisch, John Joseph, and Matt Toman really helped to streamline his vision and perfect the final product.
“Like, just, you know, my music is really dense so sometimes I can just over, just go overboard and just having them to help set parameters and just help make it sound good without me having to you know, go crazy. So, I think it's something that I'm gonna carry with me for the rest of my life, probably in terms of me making music, you know, I need, I need help.”
photo by Kenneth Cius.
With the release of the album have come several new changes to Bayonne’s live touring set. The addition of Matt as his full-time drummer has injected unparalleled energy into his shows, often even rivaling his own. Additionally, the introduction of new stage projections custom-made for each performance envelops the audience in an immersive visual experience, enhancing the overall ambiance and creating an otherworldly atmosphere.
The tour has also come with the opportunity to partner with new talent: the first leg of the tour had Jaws of Love as an opening act, and the second leg, including this Chicago performance, had Mmeadows open the show. When asked about his experience with working with Mmeadows during the tour, Bayonne described them as having the “best voices [he’s] ever heard.”
photo by Kenneth Cius.
As to Bayonne’s future plans, he says that he’s looking towards the UK and Europe, as well as releasing a new EP in the near future. There are also a “couple of things on the back burner that are kind of a surprise.”
edited by Joseph Mooney, Editor-in-Chief.
all photos shot and edited by Kenneth Cius.