Best Coast first caught my attention with the song ‘The Sun Was High (And So Was I) which I thought was one of the best things released last year. It was one of several singles that the band put out over the last twelve months, in the lead up to their debut album ‘Crazy For You’, which is finally released this week.
It doesn’t differ much from those early singles – this is straightforward pop music played with passion and energy. ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘Crazy For You’ set the tone early one with their sun kissed melodies and heartbroken lyrics and the band rarely divert from this classic formula. Twelve songs long, the album clocks in at barely half an hour and not a second is spared for so much as a guitar solo or reflective lyric. Best Coast live in the moment and for the moment, which is partly why this sounds like the diary of a typical teenage girl. Sample lyric; ‘I wish he was my boyfriend/ I wish he was my boyfriend/ I would love him till the very end/ but instead he’s just a friend’
At the same time it’s nostalgic music that harks back to an age that probably only existed on a hollywood sound stage, an age of Californian girls and long days spent on the beach. It could easily have been a cutesy pastiche but actually it’s pulled off very stylishly and it all sounds convincingly genuine. The grungy feedback and lo-fi undertones make this a more up to date and dynamic pop album than many of Best Coast’s rivals have made. ‘Goodbye’ and ‘Bratty B’ are two songs in particular with a spunky attitude that recalls Sonic Youth and The Ramones. Girl group harmonies and fuzzy guitars are hardly revelations if they are used effectively (as they are on this album) they still make the best noise known to man. There isn’t a song on here I would call a classic (except perhaps the bonus track ‘When I’m With You’) but this is a very likeable and refreshing debut album.
Best Coast have been a consistent pleasure over the past 10 months, their steady stream of singles certainly kept me happy and now we have an album that is equally as captivating. It isn’t deep, meaningful or particularly imaginative, but neither is it superficial, fake or boring. ‘Crazy For You’ doesn’t disappoint in the respect that it is a hugely entertaining record that I will probably listen to for as long as the sun stays out this summer, and maybe beyond.
8.5/10
. What I do know, is that they are a great little pop group with some seriously catchy melodies and a charming aesthetic.
