Fastball - Sonic Ranch (Sunset Blvd)

Avid followers of the 1990s U.S. alternative rock scene will remember this Austin, TX trio from their major label-distributed, platinum-selling, and Grammy-nominated 1998 second LP All the Pain Money Can Buy, which spawned three Billboard-charting singles: “The Way” (#1 Alternative, #2 Adult, and #4 Pop, achieving gold certification), “Fire Escape” (#86 Hot 100), and “Out of My Head” (#20 Hot 100). Although the band hasn’t matched that level of success since, they’ve continued to release music on various labels; Sonic Ranch is now their ninth studio LP. Even more amazingly, taking a page from the Sloan playbook, the lineup — singer/guitarist Miles Zuniga, singer/bassist Tony Scalzo, and drummer Joey Shuffield — has remained unchanged since forming under their original moniker Magneto U.S.A. in 1992. Still, after 32 years together (29 of them as Fastball), it appears that the move to a new label, and the recording of 2023’s career-spanning live album Smashed Hits! in front of a hometown crowd, has provided a rejuvenating spark. Bolstered by the crisp, dynamic production of David Garza and John Fields, and more consistent, diverse songwriting and arrangements, SR knocks the socks off their last three uneven and conventional-sounding LPs on the 33-1/3 label, 2022’s The Deep End, 2019’s The Help Machine, and 2017’s Step Into Light.

As on previous LPs, Zuniga and Scalzo share songwriting and lead vocal duties in almost equal measure. The album’s three most immediate, aggressive numbers — the punchy, driving “Rather Be Me Than You,” galloping, jangly “Get You Off My Mind,” and swirly, chugging “Let Love Back in Your Heart” — are sung by Scalzo in a thick voice that recalls Pat DiNizio and Bob Mould. All three are propulsive and exhilarating, blending Nada Surf and The Smithereens alt-rock/power-pop with a Joykiller-esque punk thrust. Like separate parts of a trilogy, Scalzo explores different phases of a deteriorating relationship on each, as he first drifts apart from his partner and then struggles to move on after the inevitable breakup. Meanwhile, Zuniga adds contrast and balance with a bevy of luxurious, mid-tempo tunes, highlighted by the impassioned, cinematic standout “Daydream,” which he delivers in a John Lennon meets The Mutton Birds’ Don McGlashan croon. Though its lyrics are ambiguous, the song seems to be describing a person or memory that incites in him a feeling of heightened, blissful emotion.

Similar sonic pleasures can be found on the buoyant, canyon rock-spiced “On and On” and shimmering, dreampop-tinged “The Island of Me,” both alluring despite their forlorn, melancholy words. Elsewhere, Beatles influences proliferate on the bouncy, playful “Hummingbird,” gentle, folky “Grey Sky Blue,” and surf-flecked, politically-themed “America,” the latter decrying the media’s tendency to constantly portray our nuanced, disparate nation and its issues in over-simplistic, absolute terms. Finally, the closing, Scalzo-sung piano ballad “I’ll Be on My Way,” which crosses The Sharp Things and early Elton John with a Pogues “Fairytale of New York”-evoking melody, ends the album on an enchanting and seductive high note. With an abundance of charisma and hooks, and a beautiful flow from beginning to end, SR makes a strong case as the best album of Fastball’s long and distinguished career.

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Sunset Blvd Records Links: Website | Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

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