Best Coast
Best Coast are not only one of this Blog's favourite bands, they were probably one of the first 'local' bands I saw live. There's Bobb Bruno's trademark fuzzed-up lo-fi guitar, Bethany Cosentino's oh-so-right vocals and a never ending cycle of eminently enjoyable songs about boy troubles, cat troubles (the adorable Snacks) and wondering whether there is more to life than there seems; all the while feeling oh-so slightly guilty about writing an up-beat indie-pop song that could quite easily be turned into a commercial for the LA tourist industry (actually there's an element of truth here). Me? I just consulted my lonely indie-pop boy checklist: Wall of jangling guitars? Tick; Sweet female vocals? Tick; nigh-on perfect west-coast indie-vibe pop-songs? Tick...
2013's mini-album "Don't Fade Away" was one of that year's best releases and arguably then Bethany and Bobb's finest collection to date. Yes - Bobb's fingerprints were all over the sound - It was unmistakably Best Coast - but the songs were just a little darker, there was a new found maturity, confidence and sophistication. Bethany's imploring, questioning vocals never sounded more spot-on...
18 months later and Best Coast are back with their third full-length album "California Nights" - their first on a major label (Harvest) - and from the opening bars of "Feeling ok", as surf guitar gives way to that trademarked muddied lo-fi sound - this is so obviously a Best Coast tune. Even the theme is familiar - life (or the vagaries of it) and the glorious uncertainty of love - but then there's Bethany's voice and her majestic soaring harmonies... It all sounds familiar, but somehow bigger, the wall of guitars is replaced by a veritable orchestra of 6-strings (as anyone who saw them on Conan recently can attest).
The track is followed by "Fine without you" - revisiting for the umpteenth time unrequited love - it's another quintessential Best Coast song. Here's the secret though, rather than turning out all melancholy, the song is a tour-de-force of whirling guitars and pounding percussion, creating an uplifting anthem. It's like "shit happens, but tomorrow is another day..." Somehow though the sound just seems expansive (trying hard not to say "bigger" again) - everything gets the 70 mm Cinemascope treatment. Songs such as "So unaware", with it's subtle multi-tracked vocals and "Jealousy" as Bethany goes all "sha-la-laa-la-laa" on us, also benefit from these deft touches. "Sleep won’t ever come" and "When will I change" ably demonstrates that no one writes a summery hook like Bethany Cosentino or that Bobb Bruno throws in deft chord changes at times for fun...
But I also like the fact that on this album the pair throw us several curves. "Heaven sent" is all pogo-a-go-go Americana punk - utterly frantic - and I'm already limbering up for a thrash around the Wiltern's mosh (that I'll undoubtedly regret the following morning) when the band play their hometown gig there next month. "In my eyes" is an ode to fuzzy guitars - the intro could be easily mistaken for a late 90s Britpop riff - before Bethany grabs the song by the scruff of the neck and yanks it back to the Golden State.
However the song that really says we've arrived is the album's title track. "California nights" is the best song that Bethany has ever written. It's 5'11" of absolutely uplifting and dreamy guitar pop which creates a soundscape as vast and beguiling as the high desert (disclaimer: one of my favourite - if not the favourite - places in the States is Death Valley, it's the kind of place that if it didn't already exist would be impossible to invent). On an album full of some of the most harmonious indie-pop that you're likely to hear this year, "California nights" stands out - multilayered, incredibly textural "...California nights make me feel so happy I could die, But I try to stay alive..." - it's arguably one of the songs of the year.
"California Nights" builds on the confidence, maturity and sophistication evident on the criminally underrated "Don't Fade Away", the songs are still ultimately personal, still betraying a hint of fragility and uncertainty, but there's been some tweaking and fine-tuning - and yes - it all sounds bigger, bolder - without ever losing what it is that makes listening to Best Coast one of the most enjoyably legal things you can do with the top down along the PCH - their songs are so enjoyably fun. In fact the only thing you can do after listening to this album is exhale and hit auto-repeat. Without a doubt this is the band's finest work - indeed this is the soundtrack for the summer and an album for which the epitaph "Yearlist" is thoroughly deserved.
Best Coast Website
"California Nights" (Website), (iTunes)
2013's mini-album "Don't Fade Away" was one of that year's best releases and arguably then Bethany and Bobb's finest collection to date. Yes - Bobb's fingerprints were all over the sound - It was unmistakably Best Coast - but the songs were just a little darker, there was a new found maturity, confidence and sophistication. Bethany's imploring, questioning vocals never sounded more spot-on...
18 months later and Best Coast are back with their third full-length album "California Nights" - their first on a major label (Harvest) - and from the opening bars of "Feeling ok", as surf guitar gives way to that trademarked muddied lo-fi sound - this is so obviously a Best Coast tune. Even the theme is familiar - life (or the vagaries of it) and the glorious uncertainty of love - but then there's Bethany's voice and her majestic soaring harmonies... It all sounds familiar, but somehow bigger, the wall of guitars is replaced by a veritable orchestra of 6-strings (as anyone who saw them on Conan recently can attest).
The track is followed by "Fine without you" - revisiting for the umpteenth time unrequited love - it's another quintessential Best Coast song. Here's the secret though, rather than turning out all melancholy, the song is a tour-de-force of whirling guitars and pounding percussion, creating an uplifting anthem. It's like "shit happens, but tomorrow is another day..." Somehow though the sound just seems expansive (trying hard not to say "bigger" again) - everything gets the 70 mm Cinemascope treatment. Songs such as "So unaware", with it's subtle multi-tracked vocals and "Jealousy" as Bethany goes all "sha-la-laa-la-laa" on us, also benefit from these deft touches. "Sleep won’t ever come" and "When will I change" ably demonstrates that no one writes a summery hook like Bethany Cosentino or that Bobb Bruno throws in deft chord changes at times for fun...
But I also like the fact that on this album the pair throw us several curves. "Heaven sent" is all pogo-a-go-go Americana punk - utterly frantic - and I'm already limbering up for a thrash around the Wiltern's mosh (that I'll undoubtedly regret the following morning) when the band play their hometown gig there next month. "In my eyes" is an ode to fuzzy guitars - the intro could be easily mistaken for a late 90s Britpop riff - before Bethany grabs the song by the scruff of the neck and yanks it back to the Golden State.
However the song that really says we've arrived is the album's title track. "California nights" is the best song that Bethany has ever written. It's 5'11" of absolutely uplifting and dreamy guitar pop which creates a soundscape as vast and beguiling as the high desert (disclaimer: one of my favourite - if not the favourite - places in the States is Death Valley, it's the kind of place that if it didn't already exist would be impossible to invent). On an album full of some of the most harmonious indie-pop that you're likely to hear this year, "California nights" stands out - multilayered, incredibly textural "...California nights make me feel so happy I could die, But I try to stay alive..." - it's arguably one of the songs of the year.
"California Nights" builds on the confidence, maturity and sophistication evident on the criminally underrated "Don't Fade Away", the songs are still ultimately personal, still betraying a hint of fragility and uncertainty, but there's been some tweaking and fine-tuning - and yes - it all sounds bigger, bolder - without ever losing what it is that makes listening to Best Coast one of the most enjoyably legal things you can do with the top down along the PCH - their songs are so enjoyably fun. In fact the only thing you can do after listening to this album is exhale and hit auto-repeat. Without a doubt this is the band's finest work - indeed this is the soundtrack for the summer and an album for which the epitaph "Yearlist" is thoroughly deserved.
Best Coast Website
"California Nights" (Website), (iTunes)
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