Best Coast Ride the Chillwave

As foreshadowed by its sunny postcard-style album art and its breezy half-hour length, “Crazy For You” concerns itself primarily with creating a single, uniform atmosphere—a “Summer Mood,” as one of its song titles explicitly puts it—and it’s essentially a matter of preference whether you view that mood as one of whiny, apathetic, marijuana-infused banality or one of carefree, hazy longing. Either stance comes with plenty of proof, and that’s part of what has made Best Coast—and especially its public face and songwriter, Bethany Cosentino—so polarizing. Within the first minute of this record, you’ll probably know if you like it or not, and that says less about its depth (or lack thereof, potentially) than about the striking candor of its presentation.

After a handful of celebrated EPs and singles and a well-documented relationship with fellow Southern California-based lo-fi revivalist Nathan Williams (a.k.a. Wavves), Cosentino garnered considerable hype for Best Coast’s full-length debut and thus was destined to disappoint some. Each of Best Coast’s releases has wandered further and further from Cosentino’s previous band—drone/freak-folk/psychedelic outfit Pocahaunted (arguably a more emblematic example of her fondness for pun-y band names)—losing her some fans but winning her many more. She and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno tone down some of the fuzz that defined their earlier singles; in its place are tighter songs with clearer, often higher vocals, and an overall less haunting afterglow.

That doesn’t make “Crazy For You” any less hypnotic, though, and the good songs on this album (there are many) have no difficulty lodging themselves deep in your brain and begging for repeat listens. Perhaps because the lyrics often conjure a feeling of intense stasis, the faster songs tend to be the most memorable and effective. The propulsive sway and swirling harmonies of “Boyfriend,” the jangle-pop rise and fall of the title track, and the twinkling kick and irresistible riff of “When The Sun Don’t Shine” give the album its energy and its charm. Cosentino is also a master of the change-up, turning songs like “I Want You” and “When I’m With You” from slow and steady, stripped down bedroom pleas into wild bursts of impassioned, gorgeous harmonies.

Like Jenny Lewis and Courtney Love, Cosentino has a voice powerful and versatile enough to carry what is essentially (and deliberately) an exceedingly simple record.

The typical “pathetic girl” tropes—waiting by the phone, wondering about other girls, being perennially relegated to “friend” status—are supplemented by her musings on more mundane topics, much to chagrin of many critics. While it’s true that statements like “nothing makes me happy / not even TV or a bunch of weed” present no great insight, there’s something refreshing and indeed almost stark about that brand of self-analysis. Aside from a certain present-day malaise, moments like these seem not so distant from a group like the Supremes declaring “no peace shall I find / until you come back and be mine.”

“Crazy For You” may not have the staying power of 2010’s other popular releases, and it probably doesn’t purport to. Ultimately there are only so many ways to rhyme “kiss you” with “miss you,” and perhaps Cosentino’s fans will grow tired of following her Twitter account—or at the very least, that of her beloved cat, Snacks, who graces the album’s cover. One wonders too at the curious omission from the album of any cover songs, which have often been the highlight of Best Coast’s EPs (particularly Cosentino’s sublime take on the Beach Boys’ “In My Room,” which she somehow manages to make both darker and more euphoric). But despite a few puzzling choices, Best Coast should be recognized and celebrated for staying true to its throwback aesthetic, and meanwhile crafting an album perfectly tailored to the summer—fleeting and with moments of tedium, but also warm, nostalgic, and beautiful.

—Staff writer Jessica R. Henderson can be reached at jhenders@fas.harvard.edu.