When Best Coast played at Cat’s Cradle in the summer of 2012, I was thoroughly unimpressed. As an avid fan of the surf-pop-garage-rock band, I found the band’s performance lackluster and, above all, lazy.
The show followed the band’s release of its second studio album, The Only Place, which failed to bring anything new, or at least non-redundant, to the scene.
Disillusioned by the album and its tour, I spent the last year or so listening to the band only sparingly and only to songs from Crazy for You, its first studio album. No longer did I consider myself an enthusiastic fan.
That was until Sept. 17, when Best Coast released a new song called “I Don’t Know How,” which was taken from an upcoming, seven-track mini-album/EP, entitled Fade Away.
I’ve listened to “I Don’t Know How,” about three times a day since then. The song, a familiar feeling track one might expect to hear at a 1960s high school dance, deviates from the band’s typical sound — getting creative with rhythm and tempo, and displaying a higher level of lyricism than past efforts.
Fade Away opens with “This Lonely Morning,” an upbeat track more reminiscent of the band’s past work. The song is clearly identifiable as Best Coast’s even before Bethany Cosentino starts singing, “I wait for you to call, but sometimes you don’t call at all.”
Everything about the track is familiar, but doesn’t feel overdone — this is something Best Coast does well.
“I Wanna Know,” the second track, is especially interesting and obvious allusion to Cosentino’s former relationship with Wavves front man, Nathan Williams, as she sings, “Baby Goodbye” — presumably in response to Wavves song, “Baby Say Goodbye.”
The song feels personal and spiteful, making for a great, catchy surf-pop-punk tune.
Track three, “Who Have I Become,” is another fun one that prides itself on repetition, but never feels as though it drags on. It isn’t the best song on the album by any means, but it’s pretty enjoyable.
With “Fear of My Identity,” Best Coast reminds fans of its ability to deliver a truly depressing song in a captivating way. The fourth track on the album explores what happens when a person who identifies herself by a relationship loses that relationship.
Seeing a vulnerable side of Cosentino is nothing new, but she always manages to present her vulnerabilities in new ways, and that’s apparent with this track.
The title track surprised me. With Best Coast, I expected a song called “Fade Away” to be a marijuana inspired anthem about getting faded. Instead, the song keeps with the album’s persistent theme of fading love.
Nothing about this song is cliché. It’s entirely representative of Best Coast in that it delivers a very sad and relatable situation without dwelling about its inherent misery.
“Baby I’m Crying,” on the other hand, does dwell about misery. Its placement as the penultimate track on the mini-album is perfect. Following five tracks about Cosentino’s attempt to stay strong following her breakup, this track demonstrates the futility in staying strong and her ultimate giving in to her sadness. Anywhere else on the album, this song would not have worked — and it still isn’t my favorite — but given the context, it’s perfect.
All in all, Fade Away is a breakup album. It is utterly Best Coast in its presentation, as any song would have worked on any past albums.
Best Coast has finally come into its sound with this album, having finally tossed aside its lo-fi identity for the sake of quality, relatable music.
Fade Away will be made available for purchase Oct. 22, and I highly recommend anyone who considers or once considered him or herself a fan of Best Coast to purchase it.
