Best Coast – California Nights

Best Coast’s appeal is wide but thin. Their sweetness on sophomore record The Only Place (QRO review) was indeed sweet, but also very simple. Sunny guitars that just screamed Los Angeles, it left warmth but otherwise didn’t reach very far. That continues with follow-up California Nights, though to better effect.

California starts with the sweet rock-swing of “Feeling Ok”, and the first half of the record sticks to that for enjoyable, if relatively unremarkable, effect. It begins to truly lean on the simple & forgettable side by the middle with “So Unaware” and “When Will I Change”, before thankfully changing it up at least somewhat for the setting of the sun title track and cheery “Fading Fast”. Final songs like “Run Through My Head” and “Wasted Time”, yet more songs about boys, are likeable enough, but drag a little.

California Nights is not reinventing any wheels, and could have fit in almost any area of music since rock began to roll. But that gives it an accessibility that can’t be denied, even if the impression fades rather fast.

Best Coast – Feeling Ok

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