Album Reviews

On their latest album, Best Coast’s Bethany Costentino and Bobb Bruno do what they do best. Which is making the kind of sun-drenched pop-rock tunes that brightens up your day. Up until 2015’s ‘California Nights’, those bright songs were juxtaposed against bummer lyrics. No longer though. Costentino has embraced sobriety and with that comes a more optimistic disposition.

Musically, Best Coast have always had a pretty distinctive sound and with this being album number four, they know what works and what doesn’t. And that shows on early cuts like ‘Different Light’ and ‘Graceless Kids’. The downside of such a distinctive sound is that songs do start sounding the same. By the time I got to the album’s second half, I found it increasingly hard to tell the songs apart. And not even little flourishes like the synths that pop up in ‘Seeing Red’ were able to change that creeping feeling. Does that make ‘Always Tomorrow’ a disappointing album? Not necessarily, just one that maybe works better when listened in small doses.