Tinted Windows

Although the roster of the newly formed act Tinted Windows is a bit of a head-scratcher--middle Hanson brother Taylor Hanson, Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, former Smashing Pumpkin James Iha and Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos--it all seems to make sense after one listen to the supergroup's self-titled debut.

Tinted Windows’ self-titled debut is a buzzy, thumping, rousingly tuneful set of songs about broken hearts and adolescent need; it’s as wonderfully shallow and cleverly arranged as the classics of the genre.

Bun E's very presence suggests that Tinted Windows might have a bit of Cheap Trick's feverish rock & roll, but the group errs on the side of caution, the product of a bunch of longtime veterans getting back to basics and playing their first love. While the former cancels out the latter ever so slightly--there's not much abandon here, only precision--the pleasure of the popcraft outweighs much of the caution in the construction, especially when the insistent hooks are delivered with such puppy-dog earnestness by Taylor Hanson.

Though the songs recall the Fountains' smart, well-crafted material, they lack that band's detailed lyrics (typical line: "All I really want to say/Is I need you every day"). But these likable tunes usually hit their modest marks.

Tinted Windows' debut is even less left-field; these hook-crammed power-pop jams are safe and bouncy enough for Jo Bros fans and Stacy's mom alike.

Ultimately, the whole of Tinted Windows is so much less than the sum of its considerable parts that it's almost tragic.

Listeners are subjected to nothing more than a glorified boy band trying desperately to recapture a second wind.