Bethany Cosentino has embarked on a solo project outside of Best Coast with the release of her first single “It’s Fine,” the first taste of the Los Angeles artist’s forthcoming debut album Natural Disaster. After over a decade and five albums worth of the sometimes lo-fi, sometimes jangly indie-rock she created with bandmate Bobb Bruno — she’s found herself more than ready to redefine an identity that’s become virtually synonymous with the band. So Cosentino is placing Best Coast on an indefinite hiatus in order to explore a different side of her music.
Judging by her lead single “It’s Fine,” that side leans towards a pop-rock breeziness that invokes some of Cosentino’s core influences (from Bonnie Raitt to Sheryl Crow). But the same effortlessness with which she conveyed all the lovelorn intimacy of Best Coast through her confessional lyricism is still very much present. “Imagine if I handled this shit like I used to / Imagine if everyone knew the truth the way that I do,” she coos in the song’s opening. “I am evolved / You’ve stayed the same.”
“This was the first song I wrote and recorded for this album,” Cosentino explained. “I was inspired to write ‘It’s Fine’ when I was faced with a situation that required me to pick a side: get revenge, or get over it. In the end, I chose the latter, because I realized the former is just not who I am anymore – but, there is always going to be a side of me that considers it, even if just for a split second. Because no matter how much we evolve and grow – our old stuff is usually just creeping right around the corner.”
One of the massive appeals of Best Coast was in Cosentino’s knack for putting into words all the unvarnished angst and raw emotion that broils inside of us at our most unguarded and vulnerable — like when we’ve just been dumped or find ourselves hopelessly smitten. From any other singer/songwriter, the explicit and melodramatic expressions would’ve felt decidedly cringe-worthy. But from Cosentino, they felt inspired and voraciously honest in exposing what we’re all too afraid to voice ourselves.
Steeped in such exceptional passion it’s not hard to imagine what the Cosentino of Crazy For You would choose if faced with the choice presented on “It’s Fine.” But although as affectingly introspective as ever, the defining theme of it all — the song, the debut of her solo career, stepping away from Best Coast — is that she’s not the same person she was over a decade ago. Against the twang of guitars and delivered via her ever-invigorating croon, Cosentino finds herself stalwart and committed to that truth. When the world or other people appear to be dragging you back toward a past version of yourself sometimes that’s all you can do.
The new song also comes with a music video directed by Janell Shirtcliff, which places Cosentino in the desert and opens with a phenomenal shot of her storming out of this isolated home to scream at the top of her lungs. With all that frustration expelled, the song kicks in as she jumps in her car and starts driving around the expanse of dunes before returning back to the house to change out of the diner-esque outfit (complete with her name stitched into it) into something more freeing.
Natural Disaster the new album from Bethany Cosentino is out Jul. 28.
Visit Bethany Cosentino on their website, Twitter, and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
Words: Steven Ward
Watch the music video for “It’s Fine” the new single from Bethany Cosentino below!
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