rate.fmrate.fmLog in

Review

Get the app

Albums

When I'm With You

Best Coast

2010

When I'm With You

Release Date:  2010

By Pitchfork

Reviewed November 17, 2009

Even among the rich beach-pop/chillwave choices this summer, Bethany Cosentino, aka California's Best Coast, stood head-and-shoulders above most of the fuzzed-out records with "Sun Was High (So Was I)". It was a certifiable monster, but perhaps because "Sun Was High" was so mercilessly genre-entangled, Best Coast weren't automatically guaranteed a callback, and one-bloghit wonderdom seemed to be Cosentino's lot after her kinda meh follow-up. But now she returns with "When I'm With You", the A-side of her terrific new 7" on Black Iris. Turns out the scuzzy production wasn't some convincing cover-up: Here, Cosentino's voice sounds confident and perfectly smart-assed ("When I'm with you I have fun," she preens unconvincingly, recalling shades of early Liz Phair), now backed by a proper band eager to help wean her off the four-track and gussy-up the shoreside shimmy and shake. Jammy and self-assured, "When I'm With You" connects, autumn be damned.

[from the "When I'm With You" 7"; out now on Black Iris]

7:00 PM · Nov 17, 2009