Available on: Black Iris 7″

‘When I’m With You’

Beth Cosentino, a former member of Pocahaunted (poster girls for the hypnagogic pop/glow-fi movement, a group of mostly LA based artists making sun-blushed lo-fidelity rock) has gone solo under the name Best Coast. She describes Best Coast as her avenue to “record songs about the summer and the sun and the ocean and being a lazy creep.” An example of this then, from ‘When I’m With You’:

The world is lazy / But you and me / We’re just crazy
So when I’m with you I have fun
Ever since I was a little girl / My momma always told me / There’d be boys like you
So when I’m with you I have fun
I hate sweeping the lawn alone

That’s not an extract either; that’s the whole song. But don’t let the comedy beach bum vibes of Best Coast’s lyrics put you off: Cosentino deals in straight from the heart pop that often recalls Saturday Looks Good to Me, the Michigan pop powerhouse led by Fred Thomas (also of City Center) in both its natural songwriting and its vintage shop production courtesy of Bobb Bruno – the behind-the-scenes second member of Best Coast.

Beth’s vocals – particularly on ‘This is Real’, the stronger of the two sides on this excellent single – may be ropily recorded, but rather than dull them, it simply makes them more effective. After all, it’s life’s half-captured, ephemeral moments that tend to stick longest in the memory; Best Coast’s songs seem to be over before you’ve had a chance to sing along, and they’re more powerful for it.

Anna Russell