Crabapple are the greatest active indie pop band, ask anyone. “East Coast Cities” is the first track from their 2014 cassette Is It You, a perfectly happy-sad musing on the sort of long-distance longing that comes when your favorite people are scattered all over the country. “It’s late, you’re miles away in an East Coast city, I won’t name,” sings bassist Sandra Alayon. “I’d call, but it’s far too late, and you wouldn’t pick up anyway.” In Crabapple, Alayon (who formerly played with Allison Crutchfield and Kyle Gilbride in the short-lived pre-Swearin’ band Dear Marje) is joined by Bean Toupou (a/k/a Try the Pie, formerly of Sourpatch), Jenna Marx (of Salinas pop punk trio Joyride!), and Sean Nieves (who drums with No Babies). In the song’s new video, the band plays and sings along backed by a glowing sun set and the San Francisco skyline; for all the song’s subtle anxiousness about being so far away, you can’t help but feel like they are in just the right place.
