According to the band, the album was influenced by their California roots, as well as the album Holland by the Beach Boys.[3] The album features the four core CVB members: David Lowery on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Jonathan Segel on violin, guitar, mandolin, keyboards and backing vocals, Victor Krummenacher on bass and baritone guitar, and Greg Lisher on lead guitar. Most of the drumming on the album is handled by studio drummer Michael Urbano, a former member of Lowery's other band Cracker, although former CVB drummer Chris Pedersen also plays drums on "Too High For the Love-In" and the title track. The band's then-regular live drummer Frank Funaro, also a member of Cracker, does not appear on the album, although he is pictured in a band photograph.
"La Costa Perdida" is Spanish for "The Lost Coast," which Lowery uses as a metonym for the bulk of California's North Coast, between Stinson Beach and Arcata.[4]
