H ey, look, genuine contenders! Fountains of Wayne are college friends Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood, emerging from under the duvet of grunge with a carrier bag of pop tunes best decribed as the anti-Nirvana. The guitars are loud but rarely are they played in anger.

The Fountains of Wayne have a bad case of mild angst, the quiet guys who never get the girl...the Bill Pullmans of rock, in fact. While they sit and watch, good-time guys like Joe Rey "I can't understand why he's so in demand" and 'Radiation Vibe's protagonist "reading playboy on your couch...he gave you backache and made you slouch" get more than their fair share. By the end of the album they're begging the object of their lust to "leave the biker, break his heart". Fair enough.

raincoats Fountains Of Wayne is an album full of stories and characters, set around a veritable tackle shop of hooks. The first single 'Radiation Vibe' was no fluke; through aching ballads like the falsetto'd 'Everything's Ruined' and storming rock-outs like 'Survival Car', the niggling choruses drive themselves into your brain to haunt your fever dreams forever.

And like the worst film posters say, you've known the Fountains all your life, but you've never met them before. There are hints of the Beach Boys, straight pop via grunge, and touches of early eighties English bands (influences include Prefab Sprout and Aztec Camera). Chris Collingwood's vocals (with added harmonies from Schlesinger) are the de rigeur powerpop delivery, gravelly but ever-optimistic and light of touch.

If I have a problem with this album (and I do, gentle reader), it's that it can all be a bit two-dimensional, one thundering bubblegum tune running into another. But as a lightning fast blast that will hit you like the clap and leave you itching for more, there are few better.

Will the Fountains of Wayne set the world aflame? They've got the pedigree; Adam Schlesinger has already had a measure of critical success with his other band, Ivy, and he wrote the insanely catchy 'That Thing You Do' for Tom Hanks' film. 'Radiation Vibe' got to a creditable number 32 in the top forty before Sink To The Bottom (a rotten choice as single) stiffed like it was always going to with a title like that. Well, it may not be all plain sailing yet. But summer's almost here and the perfect summer album is too. You'll probably like it.
By John Allison