Thanks to the nicest proprietors in the music business at Slowtrain Records, I stumbled onto a complimentary pass to the Election Night performance of Best Coast at the Urban Lounge. This was, like most big political nights, an election I worked until after 11:30 so I didn’t pull into the venue on my way home from the station until after Midnight. Despite her disappointment that California did not widen the legal use of marijuana, Bethany Cosentino spared the crowd any political barbs and coasted through some of the bands biggest songs from debut Crazy For You.
You have approximately a billion bands to choose from at the moment writing boozy, beachy, kicked-back surf rock and a music fan can do a lot worse than Best Coast. Still, the band’s real attraction isn’t the sometimes-too-similar songwriting and tempo, it is Cosentino’s voice which is as natural and lovely with her live three-piece band as it is in studio.
Cosentino has an old soul. A friend remarked that her crooning delivery reminded him of Patsy Cline which I think is apt. More contemporaneously, there are moments when she reminds me of Kim Deal and Toni Halliday. Her girl-group choruses are pitch-perfect, summery, and effortless.
I was able to stick around for about six songs before nearing the point of exhaustion for the day. It doesn’t take long to plow through a half dozen songs at 1:30 to 2:00 long, including “Crazy For You,” “Our Deal,” and “When I’m With You.” Each of them, if not a showcase of dynamic arrangement, showed off Cosentino’s infatuating delivery.