Review: Best Coast's "Crazy for You"

Best Coast’s Crazy for You might give you a contact high. Drenched in the mellow, sunny tone of Bethany Cosentino’s vocals and a hefty dose West Coast debauchery, it’s the sonic equivalent of THC.

It’s as addictive as any recreational drug. So don’t say we didn’t warn you.

“Our Deal” exemplifies Cosentino’s ability to parlay ‘60s girl-group pop into a modern, stoner’s ode to young love lost. There’s the Vandellas drum beat — a steady thump like a slow heart pulsing — and the saccharine melody, but Cosentino’s forthright lyrics and insouciant whine belie a contemporary heartache.

Part of Crazy for You’s appeal stems from Best Coast’s restraint. In a moment when lo-fi approaches no-fi and throwback pop often entails excess, Cosentino administers kitschiness and experimentation in appropriate doses. The young Californian’s vocals are candid and understated, and they’re at the forefront of every track. It’s an effortless sense of cool that emanates from Best Coast’s latest like a plume of smoke — slow and winding, but ultimately intoxicating.

This sense of moderation also elevates the band above many of its chillwave peers. Where Wavves flounders in its strident prose and brash instrumentation, Cosentino steers between insolent lyricism and catchy melodies like the aged rock star she’s not.

As an ambassador an emerging musical genre, Best Coast represents chillwave admirably, but there’s little diversity on Crazy for You. The lovelorn strains of “Boyfriend” and “When the Sun Don’t Shine” are nigh-perfect summer anthems, but there’s a striking sense of uniformity throughout the record.

Though it’s instantaneously catchy, the album doesn’t maintain its initial sheen after several spins.
Best Coast’s latest may not veer far from the genre it embodies, but it’s a bracing blast of California sunshine that makes the perfect accompaniment to nights spent on back porches. Crazy for You is the sound of summer — whether you’re working at Dairy Queen or surfing in San Diego.