Best Coast Sing the Joys of California Sunshine

Los Angeles-bred rocker Bethany Cosentino hates the ocean, which is ironic considering the singer and bandmate Bobb Bruno perform under the name Best Coast. "I'm deathly afraid of deep water," Cosentino tells Spinner. "It gives me anxiety thinking about all the creatures that live out there." Cosentino's wild imagination might keep her out of the water, but it's also responsible for Best Coast's vintage surf-rock meets doo-wop aesthetic that's caked with the type of guitar drone found on a Sonic Youth record.

A little more than a year ago, Cosentino's imagination also took her 2,462 miles away -- to the East Coast. "I moved to New York for a year and was going to the New School for creative writing," she says. About a year in she had an epiphany. "I got super bummed and wanted to start a band." Over one long weekend, Cosentino up and left for her familiar, sunny turf. "When I moved back, on the second day I lived here, I wrote five to six songs and sent some of them to Bob. Bob said something like 'This is all I wanna be doing.'"

"Yeah, as soon as I heard the songs I was like 'This is exactly the kind of music I've been wanting to play,'" adds Bruno, who first worked with Cosentino during her previous two-year stint in LA psych-rock duo Pocahaunted.

"I originally had called it Sundry," Cosentino says of Best Coast's start. "I wanted it to be something that was evocative of sun, warm weather because I was so into California now. When I lived in New York, there were times where I was like 'this is the best place' -- you don't have to drive, everything is accessible by walking and it's beautiful. Then, when the winter came, I was like 'I can't do this.' I remember coming home for Christmas break and it was f---ing 90 degrees."

With the influence of the Beach Boys and Phil Spector's production in their sound, Cosentino put things full circle. "Best Coast was something a friend of mine, when I lived back in New York, would say," Cosentino says. "She'd be like 'Are you on the Best Coast yet?'"

This past winter, the duo holed up in Silver Lake's Black Iris studio -- which also produced their 7" 'When I'm With You' last November -- working with Foreign Born/Fools Gold guitarist and producer Lewis Pesacov on a full-length due later this year. "The songs are about boys and me hanging out," Cosentino admits. "They are not about Bobb's life at all. We actually don't ever write songs together. I write songs and send them to Bobb and Bobb comes up with his parts." Another precursor to the still untitled project, the 7" 'Something in the Way,' was released via PPM in February.

After a stop at SXSW, Cosentino, Bruno and Vivian Girls' drummer Ali Koehler will show they have love for all parts of the country when they hit up multiple East Coast and Midwest tour stops this April. "It kinda happened out of nowhere," Cosentino says of Best Coast's quick turnaround. "'Sun Was High (So Was I)' was the first song I recorded as Best Coast. I recorded it on my acoustic guitar with a nickel as my pick. I can't explain it. It started as a fun thing that I wanted to do."