Bayonne

Experimental musician Roger Sellers records as Bayonne, blending vocals, synthesizers, looping techniques, effects processing, acoustic percussion, and additional elements into densely layered, intricately textured pieces. During the early 2010s he issued several albums under his given name that delved into electro-acoustic avant-folk; later he reserved the Bayonne name for material leaning more heavily on electronics. The project’s debut arrived with the 2014 LP Primitives, which received a 2016 reissue under the new moniker. Its 2019 successor, Drastic Measures, placed on the Billboard dance/electronic sales chart thanks to its thicker atmospheric layers, an approach he revisited on the rhythm-driven yet ambient 2023 release Temporary Time.

Born in Spring, Texas, Sellers developed an early fascination with music after watching Eric Clapton’s MTV Unplugged performance as a toddler. His admiration for Phil Collins prompted his parents to buy him a first drum kit when he turned six. Although he pursued formal training, he remained largely self-taught across numerous instruments and debuted with the self-titled Roger Sellers album in 2010. Over the next two years he refined a more structured, partially electronic folk sound on Moments and 8 Songs. During this period he built a local following in Austin through one-man live sets that relied on real-time loop layering, then adopted the Bayonne alias. Punctum Records released the atmospheric yet percussive Primitives in autumn 2014; Mom + Pop Music licensed it for wider distribution in March 2016. The self-produced follow-up Drastic Measures, partly shaped by 1960s symphonic pop, arrived on Mom + Pop in February 2019 and reached the top ten of Billboard’s U.S. Dance/Electronic Sales chart.

Continuing under the Bayonne name, Sellers appeared as a featured artist on David Knudson’s “Medalle” single in early 2022. That August he supplied a remix of Sondre Lerche’s ballad “Guaranteed That I’d Be Loved,” then issued the standalone track “Is It Time” in October. Serving as the lead cut, the song opened his Nettwerk debut Temporary Time, which arrived in May 2023 and maintained the same textural strategy.