Kevin Bronson on January 17th, 2020

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On their new single “Everything Has Changed,” L.A. heroes Best Coast pour a little metal on thee, or at least as close as the long-running duo of Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno have come to it.

The riffy new single arrives with the announcement that Best Coast will release their fifth album, “Always Tomorrow,” on Feb. 21. It’s the fourth full-length (not counting their 2018 kids’ album) and first since 2015 for the duo, now into the second decade of their partnership. While the fuzzy garage-pop of their infancy has incrementally become more sophisticated over that span, plenty of other things have happened, too.

The album announcement cites a laundry lists of topics on Cosentino’s table: “a whirlwind of global tours, heartbreak, newfound sobriety, dark thoughts, immense joy, giving a fuck, not giving too many fucks, substances, boredom, public personas and gratitude.” For her part, Cosentino sounds as if she was negotiating a crisis or three as she zoomed past her 30th birthday in 2016.

“After we finished the album cycle for [2015’s] ‘California Nights,’ something terrifying happened to me,” she says. “I felt creatively paralyzed. I couldn’t write music. There was so much bubbling inside of me, so many things happening, so much to process, but I couldn’t get any of it out. I was miserable and felt like nothing was ever going to change. One day, I locked myself in my closet and I forced myself to write, and out came ‘Everything Has Changed.’ The song was like a vision of life I wished I was living; ultimately, that song was prophetic — describing the life I would soon be living.

“‘Always Tomorrow’ is the story of where I was and where I am now, as well as the struggles I am still learning to identify and figure out. Some days I wake up and I feel like I’m on top of the world and I forget about everything that’s ever bummed me out, and other days, it all comes flooding back. This album is about leaving the darkness for the light, but still understanding that nothing is ever going to be perfect. It’s about burning it all down and starting from scratch even when the idea of that is fucking terrifying. Closing one chapter and moving onto the next even when you have no idea what is on the other side. Acceptance. It’s about taking a gigantic leap of faith.”

At least she hasn’t lost her sense of humor, judging from the video for “Everything Has Changed.” Directed by Ryan Baxley and produced by Alice Baxley, the video stars cast members from one of Cosentino’s favorite TV shows, Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules.”

||| Watch: The video for “Everything Has Changed”

||| Live: Best Coast plays Feb. 28 at the Novo. Tickets. They also perform April 2 at the Observatory. Tickets. They also perform Feb. 27 at the Alibi in Palm Springs.

||| Previously: “For the First Time”