Fastball are kind of a throwback. Not just to the nineties, when they had their heyday with songs like “The Way”. Even in those alt-days, they were kind of too poppy for the Gen X hipsters-before-they-were-called-hipsters. Their unabashedly catchy pop/rock feels more like something you might hear on the radio in the sixties than MTV in the nineties (let alone Spotify in this second-decade-we’ve-never-named), with Step Into the Light.
Delivering enjoyable alt-pop/rock was always Fastball’s bread & butter, and Step has that in songs such as opener “We’re On Our Way”, “Just Another Dream”, and “Secret Agent Love”. But there are also pieces that hew more to the Beatles, like the acoustic “Behind the Sun” and psychedelia “Lillian Gish”. And closer “French and the Punk” comes off as a wry sixties ditty that could soundtrack a couple’s film scene street montage.
Step Into the Light does lack for truly gripping singles like Fastball had back in the day, but the nineties were a long time ago. Instead, it’s an enjoyable album from an enjoyable throwback of a band.
