Fountains Of Wayne – Sky Full Of Holes – Lojinx – LJX029CD - ****

In 2003, at the mid-point of their career, superstardom winked briefly at New Jersey's Fountains Of Wayne, when their hit single Stacey's Mom achingly anatomised adolescent trans-generational lust.
But their fifth album finds them back in the box marked ‘underappreciated guitar pop classicists', where their understatedly sharp, and wryly witty, portraits of suburban survivors' mid-life muddles pan out in thirteen perfectly structured songs. With old school moves like middle eights, key changes, vocal harmonies, and guitar solos, in all the right places, Sky Full Of Holes won't spook the horses, but engages instead both the heart and the head.

(21/8/11)