Best Coast, out today with new mini-album "Fade Away," is a good choice for satisfying that SoCal surf pop itch you can’t exactly scratch. Blast them out of your car windows on the occasion the freeway isn’t packed; crank them out at a beach barbeque, catch them on the soundtrack of MTV’s "Awkward," and they always fit right in.

The Los Angeles band, led by 26-year-old Bethany Cosentino, appeared on radars in 2009 with the title track of first album "Crazy For You" and "Our Deal," the latter of which spawned a 10 minute extended music video directed by Drew Barrymore (which stars new "Carrie" Chloe Grace Moretz).

READ MORE: Film Review: 'Carrie'

After last year’s sophomore album "The Only Place" and tour with Green Day cemented Best Coast as an indie rock staple, Cosentino and bandmate Bobb Bruno released a seven track mini-album of Cosentino’s new songs before preparing to work on their third full album this November.

If "Fade Away" is indicative of where the band’s headed with such an album, then Best Coast might be at a musical stalemate. There's nothing extraordinarily different or new about Cosentino’s songwriting since "The Only Place." Their intention with "Fade Away," then, doesn’t seem to be about expanding or growing in sound, but being content in selling the product they know works.

READ MORE: Best Coast Isn't At Their Best On "The Only Place"

And it does work. All seven tracks definitely would accompany any road trip mix (particularly "I Wanna Know," very musically similar to "Crazy for You"), or better yet, underscore something youthful and fun on TV. Cosentino’s lyrics are still incredibly relatable, dealing with broken relationships and longing for the inescapable "one" as in first track "This Lonely Morning": "And I don’t know why I’m feeling this way all the time/You’re always on my mind/I can’t escape the world sometimes/This lonely morning, this lonely morning."

None of the songs are quite as catchy as those from previous albums, but "Who Have I Become?" and "Fear of My Identity" have nice hooks with Cosentino’s iconic vocal dubbing working seamlessly with Bruno’s guitar and classic drum breaks. The title track "Fade Away," while certainly not slow, is the most power-ballad-like on the album, and probably also the most lyrically heartbreaking: "Sometimes I see/The person that’s inside of me/She’s real/She’s mean/She doesn’t say anything."

"Baby I’m Crying," while nice, seems like a softer version of "Fade Away," though experiments a bit more with a larger echoing soundscape than their traditional garage feel. The track that works best on the album is the last, "I Don’t Know How," for its throwback 50’s feel both in chord changes and rhythm, evoking images of swaying back and forth at the prom, until the song takes an unexpected but delightful turn back into typical Best Coast lo-fi rock.

"Fade Away" is released on Best Coast’s own brand new label, Jewel City, after the band decided not to renew their contract with Mexican Summer. Besides this label change, perhaps the only thing original to the tracks on “Fade Away” are their lyric content, where Cosentino’s songs are less about fun in the California sun and more focused on the emotional toll a relationship can take, angst and all.

Read more of NT's album reviews here.

Reach Staff Reporter Becca Grumet here.