Beth Coast.
Best pop album of the year? Well, P!nk ('TRUSTFALL'), Miley Cyrus ('Endless Summer Vacation') and all those Taylor versions may have something to say about that. Let alone compelling crossover talents like Shania Twain ('Queen Of Me') and Lana Del Rey ('Did You Know That There's A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd'). But this left turn from the best of the west, Bethany Cosentino is certainly a contender. Cosentino and her Best Coast partner in perfect Cali' playlists, Bobb Bruno have been on hiatus like BTS since the 'Always Tomorrow' of 2020, right before the pandemic shut everything down like their tour. And we can't wait for them to make it back like the bear necessities of their 'The Only Place' classic, putting them on the map like their state after their sensational debut 'Crazy For You'. Nobody knows when that will be and besides, that's BC's business. But we'll always have to those rip-roaring guitar riff 'California Night' atop Los Angeles' legendary Capitol Records Tower. Until then there's more than enough to tide you over. Going solo for the first time, there's life after with Beth, and her first album is a 'Natural Disaster'.
One you'll actually welcome at your door. Just like the formidable first album title-track that sings, "It's August 1st in a parking lot/And there's a guy with a radio/He's sure got a lot to say, got a lot to sell/So I'll look the other way/And there's a girl with a cigarette in her mouth/She's on the phone, I can tell she's from the South/She's walking backwards, wants to be an actor/Why am I listening?" The chorus matching the desert of this album artwork and its theme. Calling, "This is the hottest summer I can ever/ remember/'Cause the world is on fire/And, hey, if we're all dying, then what does it matter?/We're a natural disaster". A metaphor for our love and a literal reflection in life. Especially in Californian where the forests are in desperate need of a drop of water like our souls are another chance. This is the realest look at the raw nature of things outside those homes in the hills since Julia Stone of Aussie act Angus and Julia Stone's cover of Midnight Oil's 'Beds Are Burning' for her 'Songs For Australia' album and the haunting backing vocals that echoes what's happening on the other side of the world.
Bolstered by three big singles, Beth's beautiful new album has the same pop sensibilities, tempered by things a little bit country, by the hits of Sheryl Crow and Faith Hill that she grew up with in the golden era 90s. Rolling like a Lionel Richie Commodore, 'Easy' evokes that all taking a pit-stop from the drama in a Californian break in the road like Danielle and her Haim sisters now this woman in music is in it with part two to her career. "Sitting in my car in a parking lot/Look up at the stars, but they don't shine a lot no more/It's always something in the distance that reminds me of resistance/When did something oh so easy get so hard?" Wanting to be free like "just me!" 'It's Fine' continues this feeling with the latest single. Whilst the album precursor, 'For A Moment' imagines you in this state for a fleeting second, singing, "The hills behind our house/Could literally just burst right into flames/I wake up every day and ruminate/I look at you and start to pray for rain/A voice inside my head/Says, "Why you wanna waste your time like that?/Cut all your losses baby don't look back/Today could be the best you'll ever have." A folk song that is anything but folklore.
'Outta Time' Bethany sings heavenly for the skies of a city of stars like all that's left is 'A Single Day'. Single, taken, or "it's complicated". Whichever one you check this ticks your box. Just like 'My Own City' and the heart of where home is. 'Calling On Angels' it gets even more like heaven singing, "there's fire in the sky, and we don't see eye-to-eye, think I'll go out for a drive/Roll down the windows to let in the sun, but the mood feels overdone." Lost in the open road where we were born to run, Wendy. But this Bethany and explicitly in this 'Real Life' she 'Hope(s) You're Happy Now'. We are with this album. 'It's A Journey' like the acoustics of "when the sky is falling I get closer to the sun, closer to truth/I hear the darkness calling, it's OK to let it in/At least that's what they say/Just when you think it's over/It all comes crashing down/The devil on my shoulder says give up/But it's a journey and I think I'll stick around." Bethany almost gave up music to study psychology, but 'I've Got News For You' on the best saved for last on perfect piano ("talking to myself in the mirror again/Practising the words I never meant/To say out loud, to someone else, 'til there was you"). Cosentino may be away from the coast, but she's still at her best. The map just got a little bigger in the California Republic. But she always finds her way home. TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Playlist Picks: 'Easy', 'Calling On Angels', 'I've Got News For You'.
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