The debut album from Bethany Cosentino and co. has summer written all over it, even boasting a song named 'Summer Mood'. Brimming with frothy melodies, echoing harmonies and dirty distortion, 'Crazy For You' blends all the best parts of garage rock and surf pop, creating an instantly likeable sound. Its likeability may be instant, but it's also somewhat short-lived.
That Best Coast features ex-Vivian Girl Ali Keohler and boasts Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore among their fans should give you an idea of what to expect from 'Crazy For You'. Now, take that idea and make it a whole heap more fun. This album is almost entirely light-hearted and joyfully simplistic. With all the convoluted love songs in "indie" music, it's refreshing and almost liberating to hear such straightforward lyrics as "I'd love him 'til the very end but instead he is just a friend, I wish he was my boyfriend".
Though 'Crazy For You' is absolutely packed with fun, uptempo, scuzzy surf pop, sadly the extreme catchiness of opening track and single 'Boyfriend' is rarely repeated, and the few exceptions are all shunted into the first half, making sure to grab your attention. So while the grizzly, rustly, retro sound of their lo-fi garage pop gives off a certain charm, after a while these songs begin to sound the same, and sort of flat. Perhaps a little more variation is in order. The slower pace and darker tones of 'Honey' make a welcome change, the chilling backing vocals adding a depth that is lacking elsewhere.
Despite being hugely agreeable in the short term, on the whole 'Crazy For You' is actually quite average, and may be forgotten as quickly as it was discovered.
