Record Review - 2 August 12 2004

Sometimes things go so far south that the only alternative is to hit “reset.” Such was the case with Fastball, an Austin three-piece whose ship arrived in the guise of 1998’s radio hit “The Way,” a parable based on a true story about a couple who fail to arrive for a family reunion. They and their car were eventually found at the bottom of a ravine — an ominous omen of Fastball’s career trajectory.

Band relations deteriorated, leading to Fastball’s dissolution in the wake of the band’s apocryphally titled third album, The Harsh Light of Day. After a ride on the Austin-to-Nashville pipeline, singer/guitarist Miles Zuniga returned a year later, spirit renewed, and began collaborating with “The Way” author, singer/bassist Tony Scalzo, for the first time. The result is the duo’s tightest album to date, a loose-limbed, ambling power-pop album yoked to a roots rock sensibility.

Always capable hook-smiths, there’s more harmonizing here, and the songs are meatier. The best track is the piano-fueled soul-pop of “I Get High,” which sounds like a Randy Newman tune. Across a dozen tracks, Fastball manages an eclectic sound, from the jangling, country-tinged “Airstream” to the bubbling indie-pop sing-along “Our Misunderstanding” to the honky-tonk blues shuffle of “Mercenary Girl.” Fastball may never find “The Way” again, and the band may be the better for it.

Fastball plays the Cotton Club Sat., Aug. 14, 9 p.m. $10.