By Madeleine Coate
Sports Editor
Best Coast’s new album “Fade Away,” is promising, but does not rise to the standards of the group’s past work.
Singer Bethany Costentino’s vocals give a unique sound to “Fade Away,” and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno’s beats are soothing, but the lyrics are not creative enough to make the album truly unique.
The California duo of singer Bethany Cosentino and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno came together in 2009. The band is often categorized as lo-fi and surf rock. Before releasing “Fade Away,” the band released two other albums. After gaining internet popularity, the band signed with the independent record label, Mexican Summer. “Fade Away” is the only album released on Cosentino’s new label, Jewel City.
“Best Coast” is often categorized as lo-fi and garage rock. However, with “Fade Away,” the band moved away from psychedelic and went back to basics of the 1950’s and 60’s surf rock and pop music.
One of the album’s weaknesses are the monotonous lyrics. The first song on the album, “This Lonely Morning,” is an example. Although the guitar riff and vocals are on key, the lyrics are very repetitive. The guitar sounds are like those of other surf rock bands, like the “Beach Boys.” In general, the tone Cosentino creates with the tracks is somewhat depressing as well as nostalgic. The vocals flow nicely, but most of the songs are not interesting enough to be entertaining.
Although the lyrics are somewhat underdeveloped, the album gives insight into Cosentino’s inner emotions and self-conflict. Two songs, “Fade Away” and “Baby I’m Crying” explore the difficulty of making choices in life and the sadness after a breakup.
The best song on “Fade Away” bears the album’s title. The first verse of the chorus addresses the conflicts one faces when making decisions and says “I could stay, I could stay, I could stay/ I could/ Stay/ But it’s best to go away, go away, go away/ Go Away.” The song is much slower than all the other songs on the album and its soft sound allows it to calm the listener, without boring them.
With the track “Baby I’m Crying,” Cosentino manages to dig deeper and in the chorus explains that, “I don’t know who I am this year/ My feelings are nothing but fear.” To add emphasis, Cosentino sung the main lyrics as well as backup. The song is very sad and self-deprecating, and is a little too depressing to listen to all the way through.
Unlike “Baby I’m Crying,” most of the songs on the mini-album fail to dig deeper. They blend together because they have a similar formula of sad, repetitive, insecure lyrics with electric guitar in the background. The seven song album of “Fade Away” is promising, but the duo failed to create a diverse, exciting piece.
Best Coast has already shown it is able to adapt because they moved away from their previous lo-fi sounds to surf rock and pop music. The group has a long way to go, but with Cosentino’s strong vocals and Bruno’s vast musical talent, they will most likely excel with their next album, which is scheduled to be released in spring 2014. As for now, “Fade Away” is nothing out of the ordinary and does not meet the standards of the group’s beginning work, such as “Crazy for You” in 2010.
“Fade Away” was released on Oct. 22 and is sold for $5.99 online and for $7.00 at retail stores.
Leave a Reply