Best Coast at the Biltmore

Sure, the name of her band is a play on her own name, but Bethany Cosentino is serious about her California love. The cover of the new Best Coast album, The Only Place, for example, shows a California grizzly giving a map of the state a bear hug. And the title track, which opens the LP, has Cosentino literally singing the Golden State’s praises. “Why would you live anywhere else?” she asks. Well, we here in the Greatest Place on Earth might have a few answers for her, but we’ll try to keep them to ourselves when Best Coast plays the Biltmore on Wednesday (May 23). The Only Place is the least lo-fi that Best Coast has ever sounded, and the record’s clean jangle and reverb-free vocals move the project a step away from beach pop and almost into alt-country territory. It’s so good, in fact, that we’re almost willing to overlook Cosentino’s Cali-centric obsession. Almost.