California dreamin'

If your first musical project earns buzz, it may be a fluke. If it happens a second time around, it could just be freakish luck. But if lightning strikes a third time, well, either you have genuine talent or you need to start playing Powerball. 

The formula is actually pretty simple. Take writer Joan Didion, reincarnate her as a 23-year-old musical prodigy / slacker from Glendale, then cast her as Elaine Benes in Seinfeld, add some vocal distortion and you have Bethany Cosentino. 

These days, Cosentino is the driving force behind the lo-fi beach pop of Best Coast. But not so long ago, she was a 15-year-old wunderkind headed toward teen idol territory (as Bethany Sharayah) with singer / songwriter fare for the My So-Called Life set that caught major-label attention before Cosentino pulled the plug. 

“I’m a little embarrassed about those songs now,” she says. “They’re goofy and kind of cheesy, but it was good, too, because that’s how I got into songwriting.” 

If at first you succeed, try again. Cosentino played in a few “joke punk” bands before meeting Amanda Brown and, a few jam sessions later, launching Pocahaunted.

“I never imagined I would be in a drone-y experimental band, but it was a lot of fun,” Cosentino says. “It was very minimal, almost performance art in a way. I’d sit on the ground and play the same two-chord progressions over and over for 10 minutes.” 

It sparked a cult following that led to the band opening a show for Sonic Youth at Thurston Moore’s request. But by 2008, Cosentino was clamoring for a change in scenery. Pocahaunted split amicably, and she headed to New York City to study creative nonfiction at The New School. But the Big Apple wasn’t quite as rosy as she envisioned. 

“I had this preconceived fantasy of New York based on Woody Allen movies and Sex and the City,” Cosentino says. “I just romanticized it too much. New York is an awesome place, but I think it’s easier for some people to adapt to than others.” 

Cosentino was an “other.” She went to school and wrote about fashion and music as an intern at The Fader. But mostly she lived a PG sort of Brian Wilson existence (“Except less drugs,” she quips), obsessing over Didion, E.B. White and The Beach Boys when she wasn’t sequestered in her room watching Seinfeld and Friends on her laptop.

“I was just really lethargic. I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything,” Cosentino says. 

“Finally, I woke up one day said, ‘I have to get out of here.’”

She returned home this year with a renewed appreciation for California and the old-school surf pop that filters through the dreamy fuzz of Best Coast songs like “Over the Ocean,” “Something in the Way” and signature track “Sun Was High (So Was I).” 

“I don’t know if it’s the happy-go-lucky sound or what, but I was drawn to it,” Cosentino says. “I just want Best Coast to be fun, simple and something I’d want to listen to.” 

Done, done and done. Within months, Best Coast (Cosentino, multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno and newly acquired drummer Jennifer Clavin) had created enough of a stir to earn both critical frenzy and an invite to the CMJ Music Marathon.

Best Coast taps into something akin to The Shangri-Las and The Go-Go’s playing over a loudspeaker two blocks away when you’re a drink past drunk on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Or just call it “lo-fi,” if you’re into the whole brevity thing.

“I think we’ve figured out how to have that fuzzy bedroom sound without going overboard,” Cosentino says. “It has a pretty dreamy feel to it, and I want that to stand out, but I also don’t want the music to be totally inaudible.” 

Best Coast has both a proper album in the works (with a 7-inch on both Black Iris and San Diego’s Art Fag Recordings already in the fray) and extensive 2010 tour plans that include a stop at South by Southwest—a sign Cosentino will stick with this project for the duration. 

“I think I’ve become more comfortable in my own skin as Best Coast,” she says. “This music just feels a little closer to home.” 

Third time’s a charm.

Best Coast plays with Dum Dum Girls, Crocodiles, No Age and others on Friday, Nov. 27,  at the Art Fag Fest at San Diego Woman’s Club. www.myspace.com/bestycoasty.