CD Review: Fountains of Wayne "Traffic and Weather” (Virgin)

CD Review: Fountains of Wayne "Traffic and Weather” (Virgin)

Rock

Fountains of Wayne "Traffic and Weather” (Virgin)

Fountains of Wayne is still doing that thing it does, bubbling over with colossally catchy, Brit-pop-influenced tunes on "Traffic and Weather,” the New York foursome's first new album in four years. The band has been away too long, but front men Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger have many new and witty stories to tell, complete with flawed characters and situations that often contrast the band's sunny sound.

"Someone to Love” stars Seth Shapiro and Beth McKenzie, two lonely New Yorkers who almost meet on a rainy street; "Yolanda Hayes” is an unapproachable Department of Motor Vehicles worker who might crack a smile if her secret admirer can come up with the right pickup line; "Michael and Heather at the Baggage Claim” are travelers bone-weary of the rat race, although they still have their love to keep them going; and the narrator of "Strapped for Cash” needs to pay off a debt before "six bodybuilders in a Pinto” come to collect. There's drama, wicked humor and bittersweetness in the words, but it goes down smoothly and with a grain of hope using the band's formula of addictive melody, male-angst harmonies and springy guitars.

— Gene Triplett