4” continues a series of instrumental interludes that began on Ovens (2009) and continued on … also Ovens (the band’s 2011 EP). In the Fade’s foremost Ovens throwbacks are paired at the center of the album: “Song for Friends (Slight Return)” updates “Headache” (and references “Your ego will grow,” both) from Ovens’ self-titled 2009 compilation album, while “Ovens Theme Pt. (He does this with the help of his longtime collaborators Jasper Leach, Jack Shirley and Bart Thurber, with whom he first worked on Kill the Lights, Dissed and Dismissed and his 2008 tape Embarrassing Times, respectively.) “I thought, ‘Man, that’s kinda lame, no I’m not … ’” On In the Fade, Molina refuses to be boxed in by that narrative, not only calling renewed attention to his Ovens days (to which the “mature” sounds of Kill the Lights can trace their roots), but also redefining the scope of his songwriting in a way that feels triumphant and true to who he is. That’s why one particular aspect of the critical response to Kill the Lights didn’t sit right: “I kept hearing: ‘Oh, he’s maturing, he’s getting into other shit, writing more mature stuff,” he says in press materials. What’s he’s not fine with is being misrepresented or misunderstood. Molina is fine with you knowing who he is as a songwriter-in fact, he insists upon it. He is physically incapable of writing a lousy melody.
He usually sneaks in a cover near the end ( In the Fade closes on a rendition of Black Sabbath’s “Fluff”), and works snatches of others’ songs into his own at will, making his influences explicit. His solo output is remarkably focused from album to album Molina picks a sound and sticks to it, only shifting gears on a track or two per LP, at most. Why does it have to repeat? You’ve got to be a really good songwriter to have a song that’s long and have it not be boring.”) His foremost sonic modes, of which there are two, evoke the melodic power-pop and guitar-rock of Fastbacks, Weezer and Thin Lizzy-see: his 2014 solo debut Dissed and Dismissed-and the sunny folk- and jangle-pop of The Byrds and Beatles-see: his subsequent solo albums, 2016’s Confront the Truth and 2018’s Kill the Lights. “I don’t need a song to be standard length just because I feel like it should be a standard length, you know? It doesn’t need to fucking repeat. It’s easier to do short,” he told Paste in 2014. (“I don’t know if I write songs intentionally short.
These albums average 10 tracks and 12 minutes in length- In the Fade is his longest yet at just 18 minutes. The bullet points of Tony Molina, the solo act, are these: He’s released three proper studio LPs (plus 2019 compilation Songs from San Mateo County). Molina ties his entire career together on this record, rejecting the notion that an artist can only move in one direction at a time. It was with Ovens that Molina found his voice as a songwriter-”The songs I write sound like shit / And now that you’re gone, I know that I won’t be missed,” he sang on Ovens’ 2009 tune “Everything’s the same,” no-bullshit to a fault-and it’s to Ovens that he returns, at least in part, with In the Fade. The bridge between these two phases of his career was Ovens, Molina’s disgracefully slept-on quintet, known for running a unique gamut of heavy and hooky sounds. The California-born songwriter started out in DIY hardcore bands, and took to releasing bite-sized power-pop tunes as a solo artist over a decade ago. The last thing Tony Molina is going to do is bullshit you, bore you or waste your time-a writing role model, if ever there was one.
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