Best Coast, the surf-pop duo from the Golden State, jumped to critical acclaim and built a strong following two years ago with its debut album, Crazy for You. A fuzzed-out, lo-fi tribute to surf rock, someone must have pulled the album out of a Santa Barbara time capsule. Guitarist and singer Bethany Consentio, in particular, brought to mind a sense of warmth and levity that many community have been loath to emulate since the early '70s. The West-Coast attitude of pop, with sweet and innocent themes almost of the sake of pop, died with early Rock 'n' Roll. Crazy for You was a memento of a period when appreciation for a mundane life of lounging around was enough to keep a listener's attention.
On The Only Place, the album that attempts to follow its predecessor's success, that sense of nostalgia is gone. Producer Jon Brion has taken out all the affection the debut captured so effectively by removing the lo-fi mix. The end result proves to be too revealing, and any number of Best Coast's failings are presented outright. If less is more, here is an argument that proves the opposite. Song compositions once rich and profound are now simple and repetitive, and the group's gilding of praise as songwriters wash away like sandcastles in on the Pacific shoreline.
The eponymous ode to California starts the album off, and it seems like things are going places (or, the only place). The up-beat argument through song to live on the "best coast" seems spot on with a string of catchy lyrics and a jovial chord progression. This changes quickly. As if the light bulb goes off within the first few seconds, the listener can sense a song-structure formula that differs only in key as "Why I Cry" finishes its intro. Only after the fifth song, it seems that Best Coast tries to change up a delivery; but, by then, it is too late. It is a sloppy, amateurish collection lacking imagination.
There is some endearing quality about Consentio's voice that makes this album less of a swing-and-a-miss. "How They Want Me to Be" seems to be Consentio's time to shine vocally as she sings over an understated backing melody. However, these tracks lack the dynamism and fullness from Crazy for You, and her voice can only do much to right a sinking ship. Her omnipresent and carefree attitude skillfully moves from indie to the verge of pop-punk, but without the mystique of the mono engineering, it causes her power chords and arpeggios on guitar to clunk ignominiously in the spotlight. Add to this, her quirky lyrics about cats and sitting on the couch lessen the album's efficacy.
Aside from several songs of note, there isn't much you're missing on The Only Place, and without the reverberation effects of its past works, Best Coast sounds hollow and vapid. The band needs to find a way to recapture the feeling of the past or try harder to connect lyrically when working in the present. Pop songs should allow one to escape, not draw one in to criticize.
For Your Consideration: "The Only Place," "How They Want Me to Be."
For Next Time: No ideas yet.
