The Coast Is Never Clear

At surface level, Beulah's The Coast is Never Clear is a fantastic album that had me enamored from my first listen, and the story surrounding the band around the time that they made this record has kept it interesting.
Miles Kurosky, the band's vocalist, wrote much of the material for the album while in Japan, and mailed demo tapes to each of his band mates. Their individual interpretations led to different styles of music on some songs, which gave way to a variety of instruments featured on any given track. The lyrical tone of the album was influenced by Kurosky having been diagnosed with bipolar disorder just as the band began recording. The fusion of upbeat California pop, alt country, and garage rock was met with dark and down beat lyrics. The result could have been a disaster, but the album stands out among the band's other work (which is also good and worth checking out). Many artists try to fuse genres and juxtapose mood with varying degrees of success, but Beulah's ability to do so on this album comes off as sincere, especially in the context of how the material was developed and arranged.

Beulah MySpace (Unofficial)
Miles Kurosky MySpace