California Nights Best Coast Harvest Two stars
Dream-pop duo Best Coast have left the lo-fi offerings of their earlier indie releases behind to unleash a wall of sound for their major-label debut.
With only one track on the 12-song album topping four minutes, there is undoubtedly great hope that this Los Angeles group can break through to regular radio airplay – the problem is that this hodgepodge of slickly produced fodder is a rehash of what so many bands have done better before them.
With a sound reminiscent of such southern-California stalwarts as The Go-Go’s, The Donnas and Voice of the Beehive, multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno shows his influences with a soaring guitar that borrows from surf, garage, goth and punk. Singer-guitarist Bethany Cosentino is like a smoother version of Courtney Love, pining about broken relationships, loneliness and the search for love. Feeling OK, the album’s opener, is radio-friendly and the standout track. Other songs such as Fine Without You, Jealousy and Run Through My Head take the album into darker territory, with the running thread of lost love. California Nights is a step forward for the group, but more songs with original ideas are needed for Best Coast to be truly memorable.