Fountains of Wayne
Sky Full of Holes
Yep Roc Records
With their first new
release since 2007’s
Traffic and Weather,
Fountains of Wayne
carries on its critically
acclaimed brand
of shimmery pop.
Formed in New York in 1996 and named
after a garden store in neighboring New
Jersey, this two-time Grammy-nominated
band was formed by songwriters Adam
Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood.
Interestingly, bassist Schlesinger penned
the title song for
That Thing You Do, a
1996 Tom Hanks film about a 1960s one-hit-wonder band. The title track became
a hit (unlike the film), and the band has
continued to churn them out ever since.
FoW’s original lineup, which also includes
guitarist Jody Porter and drummer Brian
Young (formerly of the Posies), has remained
unchanged since their first tour.
Full of blazing power pop and acoustic-driven
ballads,
Sky Full of Holes comes just in
time for late-summer fun. The stories remain
great, and the songs have the same feel that
longtime fans expect (check out “Road
Song”), with a gentle, lap-steel love song
quickly being taken over by a happy and
quacky pop song with a big horn section.
The different styles work well with this fun
and sometimes-clever group of tunes, many
of which sound destined for Top 40 radio.
The album doesn’t have all the scrap and surliness
of their earliest stuff—this outing has
its share of Hollywood gloss—but then what
is crunchy power pop all about, anyway?
Fun, that’s all. So if you’re into Big Star, Evan
Dando, and Weezer,
Sky Full of Holes is definitely
worth a listen.