Artist: Fountains of Wayne

Title: Sky Full of Holes

Label: Yep Roc Records

Unlike the bulk of their pop music contemporaries, Fountains of Wayne doesn't sing the conventional praises of love or boast about the larger-than-life existence that comes with the rock star territory.

Instead, they've focused their lyrical energy on the everyman—the guy who hates his dead-end sales job, the teenager who's crushin' on his best friend's mom, the sweet girl with a doofus boyfriend she just can't dump, even though she probably should immediately.

See, it's these sad souls who are the stars of every Fountains of Wayne song. But rather than simply revel in their heartache, the band still manages to have a sense of humor about all that ails them.

In fact, if it wasn't for the songwriters' inherently satirical streak and the hooky, power-pop accompaniment that makes you want to join the chorus, you'd probably think you were listening to old-school country.

And the same pretty much holds true for all the sad sacks featured in Sky Full of Holes. Providing a stark contrast between the album's decidedly peppy soundtrack, the lyrics spotlight everything from the travails of the fortysomething woman who can't help drinking away her bad memories in "The Summer Place" to the disrespected family man who daydreams about being Captain America instead in "Action Hero" to the motley crew who drown their regrets in scotch and Steve Miller songs in "Radio Bar."

If this was Christian music, these lovable loners would probably find redemption by the song's bridge. Since that's not the same place Fountains of Wayne is coming from, however, there isn't that comforting sense of hope in their music. If anything, Sky Full of Holes is a clever collection of cautionary tales that ultimately remind listeners that your life can always be worse. But at least in this case, there's some fantastic backing music to momentarily distract you from the misery.

*This article first published August 11, 2011