Traffic and Weather

I was very keen to hear the new Fountains of Wayne album, Traffic and Weather, as they are perhaps my favorite band currently making records. So I picked it up as soon as it was released. It certainly met my expectations, but I'm also left with a slightly empty feeling, after listening to it three times.

I suppose what's gnawing at me is that FOW's songwriting team, Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood, have not shown any growth in this their fourth disc. Don't get me wrong--there are still plenty of catchy tunes about the minutae of middle-class life in America, which is FOW's forte. Expecting them to put out something a little more ambitious may be unfair. But there's a sense on this record that they're going through the motions.

One great thing about FOW, is that you can read the lyrics booklet as if you were reading literature. Many of the songs are like exquisite short stories. "Yolanda Hayes" is about a man who has developed a crush on the woman who works at the DMV. "Someone to Love" is about two lonely strangers who end up not meeting cute. "Strapped for Cash" deals with a fellow who is getting leaned on by his creditors, and "I-95" is a lament about a long-distance relationship. There are two songs about the soul-crushing rigors of air travel: "Mike and Heather at the Baggage Claim" and "Seatbacks and Tray Tables Up." "New Routine" is about a waitress who on a whim moves to Liechtenstein.

Amidst all these song are the effluvia of pop culture, as there are references to King of Queens, light blue Docker pants, Greenpeace bumper stickers, Carl Reiner, La Quinta motels, and hot girls on Spanish television. Clever, yes, but perhaps too clever, in a way that instantly dates the record. The music is typical FOW jangly pop, instantly catchy.

I think my favorite track is the title song, which breaks the FOW mold a bit. It's got quite a bit of funk to it, and deals with the simmering sexual heat between news anchors. If I were on American Bandstand's Rate-a-Record I would give it a 95, as it definitely is easy to dance to.