The Fountains, residents of Athens, Georgia, since 1993, like to dress up at Halloween for tribute shows honoring their favorite bands. In recent years, they’ve played evenings of the Clash, Creedence and Violent Femmes, in everything from dresses to Civil War regalia.
Similarly, their own work can’t be pinned down to any one style. Their fourth album, Diamond Wheel, may invite comparisons to Athens neighbor Vic Chesnutt or onetime resident Matthew Sweet. But the band has an entirely original vision, in the harmonies of twin brothers Gary and Jeffrey Andrews, drummer Jeremy Allen and bassist Andrew Robinson.
It’s a hook-happy pop album, upbeat from the first note of “Open Book” through the subtly quiet, layered title track and the post-breakup hopefulness of “Hey Hey Hey”. The pure-pop “This Christmas” is inspired by memories of snowbound holidays (Allen and the Andrews grew up in suburban Buffalo, New York). Their country leanings also jell memorably on the loping “Precious Light”, the harmonica-honking “Leave Salem”, and the mandolin line that threads through “I’m Back”.
Recorded in the band’s living room, Diamond Wheel is a homegrown flipside to their previous disc, Ideal Amusement. That album was more country-rock than pop, and had heavier lyrical concerns. But the Fountains also rock here, on “Grasshopper Girl” and “You’re Left Standing”, a big anthem that stomps like Crazy Horse.