Review: Best Coast — Best Kids
Best Coast’s first album since 2015’s California Nights may not be what fans expected, but it makes sense. The band’s light-hearted sound translates well to the whimsical world of children’s music. It’s also not the band’s first foray into making music for kids, having previously created music for Amazon’s An American Girl Story — Maryellen 1955. Plus, many Best Coast fans are now parents themselves. With Best Kids these cool parents can congratulate themselves for passing on their good taste to the next generation.
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The layered vocals, shimmering strings, and clapped rhythms of “Wish Upon A Star” open the album, and it feels immediately wholesome. But this isn’t Sesame Street or The Wiggles, a fact that’s apparent when “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” gets a grungy twist. Bethany Cosentino’s vocals go more sour than wistful to match the guitar, while Bobb Bruno adds xylophone. With its trees made of sprinkles, marshmallow clouds, and banana splits for every meal, “Ice Cream Mountain” is every kid’s dream: an encouraging of kids to use their imaginations for a little bit of an escape when they’re feeling down. “Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows” starts like a merry-go-round tune and spins into a feel-good song about “everything that’s wonderful.” The vocals are as fluffy as cotton candy, capturing the innocence of young love.
Despite all the sweet treats, Best Kids isn’t at all cloying. Best Coast maintains their edge with songs like “Cats & Dogs,” which really goes for it with barks, meows, and fuzzy guitar. This cute story of a pair of unlikely best friends provides a lesson in friendship and teaches kids they can befriend whoever they want no matter what people say. “Rock-A-Bye Baby,” traditionally a soft lullaby, gets flipped into more of a jumping on the bed song with a gnarly guitar, wonky synths, and thumping bass drum driving the chorus. Perhaps it’s not the best way to get baby to sleep, but certainly a fun track to rock out to when bedtime is still a ways away. Frankie Valli cover “Peanuts” gives kids a loopy melody to woo woo along to and kind of sounds like a call to be nuts, which is an added bonus. While Best Coast brings kids on to sing on quite a few of the album’s tracks, it’s on the rework of 2010’s “When I’m With You” that it’s most effective, really rounding out the sound and adding a lovely freshness to the album’s closer.
A good mix of covers, classics, and originals, Best Kids brings the whimsy and never loses the signature sunny Best Coast sound. While a couple of the songs are on the clunky side and some feel like they were made up as they went along, it’s still all very much in the sing along, clap along, dance along spirit of any great children’s album. Parents can finally retire that Frozen soundtrack and replace it with something more their style, and even Best Coast fans without kids can enjoy blasting Best Kids with no shame.
