Pitchfork

The state of California has been a good muse for musician-turned-actor-turned-musician Jason Schwartzman. First, it served as the title to his former band's "The O.C." theme song. Now, in his first musical outing since leaving Phantom Planet, it (and its whole coastline) inspires this shimmering ode to difficult goodbyes. Coconut Records, Schwartzman's new solo project, actually sounds a lot like Schwartzman's old group, and with its prominently twinkling pianos, strummed acoustic underpinning, and easy, beach-ready rhythms, "West Coast", could, in fact, be taken as "California (Part II)".

But instead of that song's upbeat chugging and exuberant anticipation, "West Coast" is suffused with melancholy. Schwartzman is no longer driving home to the Golden State with the "pedal to the floor," he is now returning reluctantly. In a winsome, reedy voice, he unwillingly says goodbye to someone in colder climes (or so we can assume, after all, she's "standing all alone in a black coat"), wishing he could put her in his suitcase and take her with him. For a drummer, he's got quite a surprising knack for emotional melody. He gives his piano an intimate, lump-in-the-throat quality and his simple, hooky chorus is appropriately wistful. As the pianos roil insistently and that dreamy yet slightly ramshackle backing chorus crescendos, "West Coast" pulls off one last imitation of "California", smartly mimicking its best dramatic moment: That contrasting quiet/loud chorus crash. Schwartzman is returning home in more ways than one.

Stream: > Coconut Records: "West Coast"
[from Nighttiming; due 2007 on Young Baby]