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Cosentino's also admitted that she tired of hearing the term lo-fi attached to her band's indie-meets-girl-group sound. Consequently, she and bandmate Bobb Bruno have recruited Fiona Apple/Kanye West producer Jon Brion to ensure this follow-up is less ramshackle.
Best Coast still sound like Best Coast, but now they're tidier, shinier and looking us right in the eye. The revelation is the vocals. No longer hiding behind harmonies and production fuzz, Cosentino is a strong and confident singer; she attacks No One Like You like a valley girl Patsy Cline.
The album's hat trick of up-tempo cuts are so infectious they recall The Go-Go's, and it's hard not to wish there were a couple more. But most of The Only Place is mid-tempo, introspective and very candid. Written while Cosentino was processing her transition from a shopgirl to indie pin-up, these songs are filled with inertia, confusion, frustration and homesickness. Sample couplet: "I'm always crying on the phone / Because I know that I'll end up alone."
But despite this self-involved subject matter, and Cosentino's strict adherence to the June/moon/spoon school of songwriting, The Only Place never irritates. Thanks to the sweetness of its melodies, the sheer ear candy of its Cali-pop jangle, and the yearning in those vocals, it's less depressing than wistful – like watching the clouds as the sun fades.
Bethany Cosentino is still figuring out who she is – track titles like Better Girl and How They Want Me to Be practically admit as much. But listening to this musically confident and lyrically unflinching second album, it's clear she's no stoner cat girl. --Nick Levine
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2012 thus far has hardly been a vintage year for any genre, and perhaps that's why I'm enjoying this album so much. It stands out as a catchy, melodic, and most of all fun way to spend thirty minutes, racing along at a decent pace through eleven songs about love and youth, tinged throughout with the nostalgia that pervades modern indie music. Some have criticised the glossy production, though honestly the sound isn't that far away from the fuzzy aesthetics of debut album 'Crazy For You'. There's a little sheen added, nothing more, and it still more or less sounds like it could have been recorded in someone's garage, albeit on better equipment than on her infamously lo-fi early work.
Although the title track is the only one that matches up to the infectious glories of 'Boyfriend', 'When I'm With You' or 'The Sun Was High', this is undeniably a very solid release, and pretty consistent over its length. It's all pretty likable, although it isn't going to convert people who hated the first album, hate the overall vibe and dismiss Cosentino as a shallow hipster.
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