I had only heard Best Coast’s debut, ‘Crazy For You’ because it somehow ended up on my laptop. I liked a few tracks off it like ‘Boyfriend’ and ‘I Want To’, and I dug the whole surf/dream pop thing. What stood out though were the lyrics, which I thought were as predictable as water being wet. Fortunately for Best Coast and listeners, the lyrics did improve a little by the time the EP ‘Fade Away‘ came around.
I’ll start on a positive in that they certainly sound more complete with a better idea of what they wanted to create. The fuzz and jangle of the debut was great but with this record you can hear how they developed musically. There was a repetitive feel to the debut which made it hard to listen to over and over, you just knew how the next song would sound. Some of the writing on ‘Fade Away‘ is good, I have to admit. The debut seemed like the same lyrics over and over but with this EP she (Bethany Cosentino) has come along a little in terms of writing. The songs are still about being in love and all that comes with it but she tells the story much better than she used to. ‘This Lonely Morning’, ‘I Wanna Know’ and ‘Who Have I Become’ are decent dream pop tracks, good variety within each track in that they throw in guitar solo’s, slight breaks and solid drums. With dream pop though you can expect to hear a very similar beat in each track. The maturity is clear in these opening three tracks and they make a good claim for themselves to be held in the same bracket as the likes of Beach House.
Unfortunately the EP takes a dip with the next two tracks ‘Fear Of My Identity’ and ‘Fade Away’. They’re just very fucking predictable. They sound like taking two steps back after taking one step forward. MAYBE, just MAYBE that suits the EP for some people but it drove me crazy. I just had that kind of “come the fuck on” feeling you get sometimes listening to music. Here is a snippet of lyrics from the songs ‘Fade Away’-
My heart can tell
What she screams and yells
That inside she’s cold
And she’ll never grow old
If this is all it takes to get a song on a record then I’m in the wrong side of the business. You can almost guess the lyrics before she takes a breath! Anyway, neither of those songs are worth listening to. The EP plays out with ‘Baby I’m Crying’ and ‘I Don’t Know How’, the latter essentially being 3:35 minutes of the same repeated lyrics. The first half of this EP is fine. If your into dream pop you’ll like those tracks. However, no one with quarter of an ear will enjoy the second half which is a shame. In the end you just sit there, twiddling your thumbs, waiting for it to Fade Away.
G.M
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