In the final few years of the Clinton era, Austin’s Fastball charted with such alt-pop/rock singles as “The Way”, “Fire Escape”, and “You’re an Ocean”, from All the Pain Money Can Buy and The Harsh Light of the Day.  But after a too-early ‘best of’ record (issued by the label, not the band), 2004’s Keep Your Wig On failed to match their earlier success (including a Grammy nomination for All the Pain), and the band retreated from view.  But in the last few years, the trio of singer/bassist Tony Scalzo, singer/guitarist Miles Zuniga, and drummer Joey Shuffield returned to the road & to the studio, and they’ve now put out their first new record in five years, Little White Lies.  Though, like Keep Your Wig On, it doesn’t have the pop-perfect singles that made the band famous, it does see the group stretching, while retaining their core sound.

Unfortunately, Little White Lies starts with its weakest song, “All I Was Looking For Was You”, whose ‘up with love’ nature leaves their pop-catch a bit thin.  While that style does come to the fore at points on the record, the other points see it picked up by something else, like the neat backbeat of “Mono to Stereo”, or relaxed tone to “We’ll Always Have Paris”.  The grander sound helps “How Did I Get Here?”, though Fastball doesn’t quite pull off the New Orleans-like accordion saloon “Angelie”.

Little White Lies, and Fastball in general, are stronger when going either directly up towards the fun swing, or directly down into a darker haunt.  The latter comes to pass with the somewhat soft rock-ish “Always Never” and anti-celebrity “The Malcontent (The Modern World)” (though the lyrical outlook is a bit dated…) early on, and closing rawk of “White Noise” and the loss-leaden “Soul Radio”.  The catchy swing, meanwhile, is clear on the back-to-back “She’s Got the Rain” and “Rampart Street”.

Both of those tracks are single-worthy, but coming near the end of the record, it’s a little late to first hear a single from a band that made their bones on singles.  There really could have been more of the fun swing (especially piano), and maybe some more of “White Noise”’s more pressing nature.  But it’s really nice to have Fastball back, not trying to prove anything, just making music.

MP3 Stream: "Rampart Street"