When you are young, time is on your side. Plans are impermanent and changed at will. It’s a cruel trick that advancing age teaches us newfound respect for it, only to also make it harder to know what to do with it. Bethany Cosentino wrangles with this idea on her first solo record ‘Natural Disaster’, stitching that feeling to a soaring piece of power-pop on Outta Time. “I am only human / And I don’t wanna run outta time,” she sings.
As one half of indie-rock duo Best Coast, the past 12 years have no doubt passed in a blur for Cosentino. Musicians are at the beck and call of gruelling touring schedules and album release cycles, making their normal something of a merry go round. On it goes, time passes, patterns form…until they don't.
The pandemic ground Cosentino's world to a halt. But instead of acting out, she dialled in on what was most important in her life, namely making the most of her time and focusing on the relationships that really matter.
On the wistful piano ballad Easy, which emanates the warmth of a house on a dark night where the welcome light is always left on, Cosentino admits: “Growing up is easy when you’re 17 / Now I’m 35 and I don’t quite know what it means.” She may be struggling to find a path, but she recognises that deriving happiness in the little moments, and sometimes letting people go, can be a start.
‘Natural Disaster’ has a more widescreen feel than any of Cosentino's work with Best Coast. Falling somewhere between Jason Isbell and Waxahatchee while making references to icons such as Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morissette and Shania Twain, it is a bold record of pop-rock Americana.
And if you want to make your record sound huge, there are worse choices you could make for a producer than Butch Walker. The man responsible for bolstering the sonic output of Pink, Weezer, and Fall Out Boy, he pulls no punches in pushing Cosentino to the most radio-ready version of herself, and the songs shine like diamonds under this level of scrutiny.
Cosentino may be wrestling with the demons that come with getting older and making smart choices that ultimately enhance a life, but on ‘Natural Disaster,’ she sounds like she is finding her feet, and having a ball doing it. As she sings “Let somebody love you / And love somebody too,” on album closer I've Got News For You, it's clear that sometimes the best thing we can do with our time is to share it with those we love.
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