California Nights is the third studio album by American rock duo Best Coast. It was released on May 1, 2015, by Harvest Records. It was produced by Wally Gagel, who also produced the duo's 2013 EP Fade Away.
The band announced the album along with tour dates and the release of a "dreamlike" video directed by Adam Harding for the title track, which also served as the lead single. On the band's official website, singer-songwriter Bethany Cosentino described the band's approach to the making of the album, stating: "In LA, there's a real darkness that you don't see unless you know where to look. That's a theme we very consciously decided to explore and play with when making this record. We related to the idea that things may look or sound fun and upbeat, but they may not actually always be that way."
A video for second single "Heaven Sent" directed by Lana Kim and Cosentino was released on April 1, 2015. Third single "Feeling Ok" followed in mid-April, which the duo performed on Conan on May 5. "In My Eyes" was serviced to US alternative radio on February 23, 2016, as the album's fourth single.
Two outtakes from the album sessions, "Late 20s" and "Bigger Man", were released on an exclusive Record Store Day release in April 2016.
Critical reception
California Nights has received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 69 based on 26 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
Track listing
Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of California Nights.
Best Coast Bethany Cosentino – guitar, vocals Bobb Bruno – guitar, bass, keyboards
Technical Wally Gagel – production, recording, mixing Seth Olansky – assistance Vincent Silva – assistance Howie Weinberg – mastering Gentry Studer – mastering assistance
Additional musicians Brady Miller – drums, guitar, percussion, keyboards
Artwork Janell Shirtcliff – photography Lawrence Azerrad – design
Charts Chart (2015) Peakposition
Release history RegionDateFormatLabelAustraliaMay 1, 2015CapitolGermanyUnited KingdomMay 4, 2015Virgin EMIUnited StatesHarvest
References