Best Coast – The Only Place

Best Coast are back with their following up album, The Only Place, and once again, they’re filling our lives with easy-breezy, beach-pop music. The singer, Beth Cosentino, had told Alternative Press how she wanted The Only Place to be more “grown up” and not to focus on the melodrama of her and her boyfriend’s relationship. Sure, The Only Place is a little different to her debut album, Crazy For You, as it’s not as whiney anymore. But, I liked the whining!

From a female’s perspective, Crazy For You, was a good album for the girls. In fact, it could be a musical to most teen girl’s lives. So naturally, a couple of years ago I loved this album. I still do. Something clicked when I first started listening, but The Only Place is just a bit…lacking. Saying this, The Only Place is by no means bad. Well, not bad, bad. Although, there is only one track that stands out to me. ‘Up All Night’ is one of the slower songs of the album; Cosentino sings with yearning over that sedated, Californian sound, which makes you want to stare out of the window and exhale a long, heavy sigh…or something along them lines. It’s definitely, for me, one of the strongest tracks on the album. There are other tracks that perk an interest, like ‘How They Want Me To Be,’ but after a while I’m getting a strong wave of déjà vu.

Cosentino has also told the Guardian how she wants babies created to their new album. I have to say, it’s by no means a sexy album, but the type that’ll fit in nicely into Thomson’s holiday advert. After all, it does remind me of sunny days on the beach. I mean, some of the lyrics are “We were born with sun in our teeth and in our hair.” I rest my case. As a whole, the album has a mix of up-tempo and decelerated songs, and for me, the latter seems to be the best of the bunch. It’s quite nursery rhyme-y and it feels like their first album, but diluted. The Only Place is an easy-listening album, but not a great one.