INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY CHRISTINE BITONTI ☆
LATELY, BEACH WEATHER HAS BEEN DOWNRIGHT PETRIFIED—which, to the three-piece alternative band, is the best possible sign they could ask for. After the global success of 2023’s Pineapple Sunrise and 2024’s Melt, the group is daring to explore uncharted territory with newfound freedom, intentionality and grit in “New Aesthetic,” out now.
The trio – featuring Nick Santino, Sean Silverman, and Reeve Powers – formed more than a decade ago when a few friends decided to start making alternative DIY music in a bedroom. Today, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard “Sex, Drugs, Etc.” after the song went viral in 2022. The record not only led to a full-length debut album the following year, but it also earned Beach Weather a spot in the Spotify billions club – an elite group made up of the only artists ever to reach 1 billion streams on a single song – with a staggering 1.5+ billion listens.
Now, after balancing a massive international tour and multiple self-imposed songwriting quarantines throughout 2025, Beach Weather is back with their newest lead single. If “Melt” was a departure from the indie band’s original surf-rock sound, then “New Aesthetic” is the destination.
Read on to hear more about the driving creative forces behind the single and Beach Weather’s fresh psych-rock, post-punk sonic palette.
LUNA: Congratulations on your new single! How do you feel now that it’s out?
BEACH WEATHER: Feels great. It's weird. This time, we were fortunate enough to not have to wait a year or longer to put the music out after we made it, so that’s pretty exciting. We feel more connected to the music we’re putting out right now.
LUNA: The new single is called “New Aesthetic.” When you’re going through all the steps of making an album, how important do you think it is to have an established aesthetic beforehand?
BW: Building the universe around it is vital. We need to feel like there’s a world around a song. With this record, we quickly knew what we were saying. It came to us a lot faster than it ever has. “New Aesthetic” was a concept on a piece of paper. I love taking a concept and thinking about all the different ways you can spin it.
LUNA: I noticed the production on this record was more brazen than your 2024 record Melt. It’s an even bigger departure from your 2023 album, Pineapple Sunrise. Were you ever thinking in the last several years that this 90s grunge -esque sound is what you were working up to eventually?
BW: When we first started as a band, it was just Nick and me [Sean] writing songs. It was an alternative bedroom project because that’s what we were literally in. You have to go through the growing pains, both sonically and as people. Then, the music takes on a different feeling. This project is the most grandiose thing we’ve ever done, and it tells a deeper story. It’s denser in a good way—in a way that challenged us.
LUNA: As an artist, it’s hard to find a balance between what people want from you versus what you want to create. Do you ever feel that pressure?
BW: Yeah. It’s real. I also think that sometimes your perception of what you think is different is not as different as you think. I’ve had moments where I’m like “Wow, this is so adventurous! This is so out of left field for me!” Then, you listen to it back and you’re like, “Oh, damn, I really thought that was something.” That’s why we were so insular with the process of making this record. We wanted to make sure it was just the three of us in the room who really, really loved it and had no outside influence.
LUNA: I’m curious about what the studio process was like. Did it feel like “New Aesthetic” and the upcoming record came to you naturally?
BW: We had 20-25 songs that we wrote over the course of six months. It was four writing sessions. For each one, we wanted to go to a studio where we could just lock ourselves in. Be hermits and live there and “eat, sleep, drink” studio. We solidified the skeletons of the songs, and decided to play from there. It was two weeks of pushing hard and really enjoying it. That’s probably the most fun I’ve had while making something in this group. It was the freedom of it, and not having hours.
LUNA: How did that feel for all of you, doing that together?
BW: I think it brought us a lot closer. Pretty much every song has all of us singing on it. There was a microphone that was set up for Nick in the vocal booth, and there was a microphone set up for all of us, at all times. Whenever we did a chorus, we were all singing. You feel compassion towards the other person having to go through the same thing that you’re going through. When we did previous records, Nick was in a booth. You didn’t see him. But with this record, we could look at each other while we were doing it. It feels more intentional because there’s accountability and trust, and you have to be vulnerable in front of somebody. That instantly brings you closer.
LUNA: Are you ever scared before a new release, because you are putting out this new, unseen part of yourself?
BW: Yeah, I think what happens is the fear climaxes right before the release, and that fear is built off insecurity, so that takes over for a bit. Then you hope that insecurity will curve into appreciation for the fact that you got over the fear. I think if we’re scared, then we’re probably doing something good. If we’re not nervous, it means we’re settling. We’ve learned to read the fear as excitement and not as a negative emotion. Enjoy that feeling because at least it feels like something. When you feel nothing, you turn into a bot—anything to de-bot yourself is great.
