There is never a shortage of catchy, infectious indie pop available on the internet, and there's even less of a shortage of summer-themed, sun-baked (emphasis on the baked) music to listen to. Best Coast fit this description almost to a tee, and the July 27th release date of their debut album, Crazy For You, was probably not an accident.
Being released by Mexican Summer, the album (which is being streamed here) is saturated with pure, undeniably elating pop, with much of the music sounding like a blend of 90's alt rock song-writing and Phil Spector "wall of sound" production aesthetics. Are Best Coast the first to create indie, lo-fi beach pop? Hell no. Do they do it extremely well? Yes. Who doesn't like listening to a grungy, female version of the Beach Boys that sings about cats (see the awesome cover art above, featuring a picture of the band's cat, Snacks) and cannabis?
One of the most impressive tracks on the album is the single "Boyfriend," a song I just can't get out of my head no matter how many other records I listen to. The track deals with the tried-and-true subject of unrequited love from the perspective of the group's singer/guitarist, Bethany Cosentino. Lyrics like "One day I'll make him mine/And we'll be together all the time/We'll sit and watch the sun rise/And gaze into each other's eyes" continues the vein of SoCal romanticism that seems to permeate the album so heavily. At turns both haunting and beautiful, I get the feeling that this song is going to become quite the summer anthem.
"Boyfriend" is hardly the only good song on the LP. "Crazy For You" does a spectacular job of illustrating the paradoxes of love: Cosentino sings "I want to hit you but then I kiss you/I want to kill you but then I miss you," evoking emotions of just how schizophrenic romantic relationships can be; maybe the album's title is more literal than you might think.
With a running time of just 31:32, Best Coast's music doesn't seem to get old, and is often reminiscent of the flash-pop of the Ramones. One of the few disappointing aspects of Crazy For You is its lyrical content; while most of it is focused on the concept of romance, some of the songs don't seem as poetic and profound as others. "The reason why I think my lyrics are so straightforward—and a lot of my songs are about guys or situations with guys—is because I have a tendency to not say that stuff in real life," Cosentino recently stated in an interview (full interview can be found here). While this may seem like an admirable artistic ideal on paper, much of the in-your-face straight-forwardedness can come across as immature on record.
It could be argued, however, that maturity isn't exactly what Best Coast were striving for: "I definitely feel like I have a Peter Pan complex...." Cosentino admitted in the same interview. "Being an adult is so shitty sometimes. I think when you're a teenager, you have a lot less to worry about, so sometimes I think it would be so great to be 17 again, but in reality, being 17 again would suck!" Maybe being 17 again would suck, but that certainly doesn't stop her from writing like a quintessentially angst-ridden teenager on a good portion of the record.
Stylistic-nitpicking aside, Crazy For You is certainly not a bad summer album at all; it is a very promising debut, with enough memorable melodies and lovely lyrics to surely warrant repeated listenings in the warm, blazing summer months to come.
Here is a video of the excellent non-album track "Sun Was High (So Was I)," performed by Best Coast at this year's SXSW:
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