Always Tomorrow - Best Coast: Review
is a Los Angeles based alt-rock duo consisting of Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno. The duo blew up in the beginning of the last decade with their simple, catchy and indie infused take on alternative rock. It's been a long five years since the bands last studio record but they released a pair of singles from this record that proved there was still interest in the duo's sound.
Review By Lavender:
While many critics and burrowed indie music fans tend to turn their noses up at Best Coast and their simple sound I have always had a soft spot for the bands music, especially their debut record. While I think they have gotten a little more derivative as the years go by I was mostly just hoping for Always Tomorrow to contain some simple and breezy California alt-rock songs. And that it does.
The record had two singles released in the lead up to its arrival and I'm split on them. Different Light is the records opener and I think its pretty good, with tight catchy riffs and a big time Courtney Barnett influence on the vocals. Everything Has Changed on the other hand is dominated by a pretty basic and hammed up riff that I really can't stand. The track also has some let down lyrical moments and I don't think any of the vocals are particularly catchy anyways.
While we are on topic of the bad lets get a few of the tracks I didn't love out of the way. Rollercoaster sees the Courtney Barnett influence taking a turn for the worst as it features a chorus that absolutely crushes all of the songs momentum and serves as a big obstacle the track can't overcome. It's also one of the only songs on this brief record that feels like it overstays its welcome and starts just wandering. Master Of My Own Mind is a super shallow motivational track and while I see the appeal of it the song is overproduced and far too sugary in every way for my taste. Finally Make It Last is one of the only songs here with almost no pop to it whatsoever and as the listless vocals blend into the weak instrumental it just becomes forgettable.
Some of these tracks seem to be motivated by strange but often effective places. For The First Time sounds just like something Tegan and Sara would have written during their transitional moments between rock and pop and the song comes out decent on the other end. Wreckage sounds to my ears like some 2000's Disney Channel music but instead of being really annoying it does it in a way that is nostalgic and I can actually enjoy. The closing track Used To Be is one of my favorite and its hook has a huge instrumental swell that is almost reminiscent of shoegaze and I think that makes it one of the most emotionally potent tracks on the album.
Graceless Kids is a pretty badass 90's alt-rock style track that sees Bethany claiming she is "Queen of the graceless kids" over some slick guitars, with an awesome spoken word bridge added on for good measure. True is the closest thing that this bouncy indie rock styling has to a ballad and the vocals are very solid despite some of the notes being held onto too long. The glitzy percussion may be a little bit much but the songwriting is solidly in tact. Despite one of the songs here being called Seeing Red the track is pretty tame in its sound. Despite the fact that the lyrics may not match the sonic aesthetic the track is incredibly catchy and one of the ones I was most excited to return to on repeat listens to the record.
Always Tomorrow is incredibly simple but it usually does pretty good under those characteristics. If you've enjoyed the bands music before this should be pretty familiar to you, but even if you're new to Best Coast you should have no trouble getting into what they're doing here. Whether the appeal lasts varies on a song by song basis but ten years into their career they are still writing solid tunes more often than not. 5.5/10
