Best Coast

Bethany Cosentino believes everything happens for a reason. The frontwoman of the Los Angeles-based indie rock duo Best Coast, is taking life in her stride these days, even in the middle of touring and recording a new album.

“Honestly, I think not having any expectations is the best way you can approach any type of situation,” says the 27-year-old singer-songwriter and guitarist, as Best Coast wrapped up a mini-tour supporting the alt-rock demigods Pixies.

Managing expectations is nothing new to Cosentino: it’s what she’s done since 2009, when she started making breezy summer rock songs with multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno. Best Coast have mastered the art of selling an idealised image of Southern California as music, and the duo’s music is climbing up the charts like the temperatures in their native LA.

Packed with catchy songwriting and sunny melodies, Cosentino weaves songs of introspection and relationships – the good and bad – through the needle of Bruno’s punchy guitar riffs. Buzz around the duo has burned white-hot since their 2010 debut full-length Crazy For You, which took them from internet sensations to world tours. With the nascent rise to stardom, and their forthcoming third LP this year, Cosentino isn’t fazed.

“Everything for me has happened really organically,” she says. “I believe that’s the way its intended to be.” Cosentino adds that she’s “a super anxious person, but I’ve managed to find a balance between my anxiety and just allowing things to happen on their own without pushing them.”

Riding the wave of success from a pair of well-reieved albums – Crazy For You and The Only Place (2012) – has allowed Best Coast the freedom – and balance – to venture out on their own.

Cosentino released 2013’s Fade Away mini-album, produced by Wally Gagel, under her own Jewel City Label. “It was really nice to release the EP myself and get to be in control of my own release,” explains Cosentino. “We’ve always been super lucky to have worked with amazing labels in the past and never had to deal with any negative record label bullshit that you sometimes hear about.  Getting to release the EP on my own was really satisfying because I knew there was no one there to tell me what to do or how to do it. I’m kind of a control freak, so it was nice to be in control of that.”

Fade Away is a slight return to the duo’s lo-fi roots; catchy ballads about heartbreak and self-reflection set under a hazy sky, with laid-back melodies and Bruno’s driving guitar alongside Cosentino’s remarkable voice, often compared to Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. “I think for that release [Fade Away], we definitely found the sound we wanted,” Cosentino recalls. “It came very natural. We knew that we wanted that dirty, lo-fi element we had in the beginning, but tweaked to be a little more ‘grown up’ sounding.”

Cosentino offers no assurances the upcoming 12-track release, still untitled and again produced by Gagel – will sound like Fade Away. “I can’t promise you [the album] will have the same sound, because I feel like we kind of figure out the sonic vision of our releases while we are recording them. I know that I don’t want to put out some crystal clear, perfect sounding record – but, we will see what happens in the studio and what type of things inspire us.”

Cosentino jokes of the challenge to summarize her latest inspirations. “It’s funny because if you mention one thing in an interview that ‘inspired’ you, it suddenly becomes this huge story,” she says. “I most definitely feel like the ’90s inspired a lot of the songs I wrote for this upcoming record, but I would not say we are making a ’90s record.”

Artists like Sugar Ray, The Go-Gos, and Gwen Stefani have been mentioned as inspirations during recording, even Drake. “I definitely love Drake, and I found a lot of inspiration in his honesty as a songwriter – but we aren’t making a record that sounds like Drake,” she laughs.

With buzz growing around the new album, exuding the carefree and boundless optimism of her home state, Cosentino is again doing her best to appreciate moments as they unfold. “We start recording the songs this week, so we will see how everything goes. I try not to go into these situations with too many expectations. I just try to let things happen and I go with it. I’m feeling really positive about this experience though, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Best Coast‘s new project is scheduled for release in October and they’ve got a host of live dates over the summer.

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