Is saying that a song features “confident guitar-playing” one of those things that sounds kind of insulting, even if you don't mean it to be? Because when I say “confident”, I don't mean that it's “up to par”, or “look ma, they finally learned how to play gud!”, I mean that the guitar melody sounds breezy, and easily picked, like everyone is well-practiced, but playing their songs on a summer stage in front of a scenic locale, with all their parents watching and cheering along. It makes sense that this locale would be the beach, but only because of the name of the band and the name of the song. (Regarding this band's name: yes, it is a rather poorly chosen word sequence, if you put your mind in the world of common epithets for Middle Eastern people. However, if I had the hedge a guess, I'd say it was chosen “for the flow” and that we shouldn't be so quick to jump.) This band loves the beach so, so much. Singer Liz Hogg has a kind of shy whispery way of speak-singing that reminds me of a lot of groovy West Coast groups in the early 2000s, and the mathiness of the guitar line even more so. These kids are stuck in Brooklyn, but they wish they could be on Highway 1, just grooving and hanging, and smiling with their friends, confidently.
“On the Beach” is from Beach Arabs upcoming record Wild Movement, which is coming out this fall.
