For all its strengths, it’s hard to tell exactly what Best Coast meant last year’s Fade Away to be. In length and in spirit, it was somewhere between a long EP and short LP. It could have been taken as a continuation of the reverb-laden surf rock of their debut, walking back the mistakes of an underwhelming, over-polished second record. Or it could have been taken as a tremendous leap forward, displaying the duo’s best songwriting across its most versatile palette—sugary pop, NyQuil-dosed shoegaze and even the Patsy Cline references they had tried and failed to accomplish before.
But whatever it was, Best Coast comes to Milwaukee armed with a lot more of it. Lead singer Bethany Cosentino has said the duo intended Fade Away as a preview to a just-finished but still untitled album projected for release later this year. Seeing a band that has reached a new creative peak is reason enough to catch the show, but the chance to hear the material Best Coast’s new maturity has been leading to is nothing short of magic.
