From the scratchy lo-fi of their early material, through to the stripped-back live feel of their debut album, Crazy for You, and the more refined, produced sound on their most recent album, The Only Place, Pacific Coast indie duo Best Coast have always been acutely aware of how to manipulate and stylise audio for striking effect. Now, in collaboration with San Francisco-based audio technology company Jawbone, the band of Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno further this in a new studio session recorded using 3D binaural techniques. With the intent of relaying more immersive, representative playback, binaural recordings (usually achieved by utilising microphones placed within a human dummy head – no, really), presents to listeners the sensation of hearing a 360 degree field of sound. Watch the film directed by Ryan Reichenfeld – best experienced with headphones or a LiveAudio enabled JAMBOX – and read our interview with Cosentino below.

Dazed Digital:Your lyrics are characteristically very frank and open. Have you ever had moments where you've been concerned about letting people in, via lyrics, on what  appears to be your personal life?

Bethany Cosentino: Not really. When I write, I don't really think about what I'm saying – I just go with it. It's not until a song is complete that I'll look back and realise what it's about. For me, writing is almost like a therapeutic process, so yeah, I just let it come out.

I've definitely become a bit more conscious of what it is I'm trying to say in my new material, though. The songs I've written for the new album that we're about to record are definitely personal and give insight to my life and what I've been going through, but I've also tried to not make the songs so much about myself; I tried to write about general issues that any listener could relate to. I've always wanted Best Coast's music to be relatable, no matter what the subject of the song is about.

DD: Do you feel that writing and playing in the band has helped you find yourself? Or is the Bethany we hear in Best Coast different to Bethany outside of the band?

Bethany Cosentino: I'm 100% the Bethany that I portray myself to be in Best Coast. I've always been a believer that you should always be yourself and just remain honest with who you are- not only to yourself, but to the people around you. I think the reason why Best Coast has become successful is because I remain true to who I am 100% of the time. So does Bobb. Neither of us are afraid to be who we are behind closed doors, and I think that's important because your fans feel like they really know the person they are listening to. Of course, there are elements of my life that I choose to keep private, but for the most part I am an open book to pretty much anyone that cares to read me. 

DD: What can you tell us about new material? How's it sounding?

Bethany Cosentino: We actually begin recording our third record this week in LA. We're super excited to be starting a new project and working on new material. I feel like the songs are a lot stronger than the songs on the last releases, and I look forward to taking new risks and trying new things on this record. There's a mixture of sounds in terms of the style of songs, too. I definitely didn't write a linear record this time around. It's a bit bipolar, but I think that's a good thing!

DD: What do you want people to take away from Best Coast? Has this changed since your first release?

Bethany Cosentino: I have always just wanted to make music that made people feel some type of emotion. whether it be sadness, happiness, nostalgia – whatever. I've just always hoped that people could listen to Best Coast and feel some type of way. Since my songs are very emotionally driven, I meet many people in my travels that tell me a song has helped them cope with a specific event in their life, or has made them feel joy in a place where they previously couldn't find it. To me that's awesome. When i started this band, I knew i just wanted to write simple music that affected people in one way or another. To this day I still feel like I'm doing that.