Bay Area musician Tony Molina is a master at the art of cranking out insanely catchy bangers that waste no time whatsoever. His songs are short and sharp, and they work like heart-stab melody injections. It’s been four years since Molina released his last album, the relatively folky and layered Kill The Lights. This summer, Molina will return with his new LP In The Fade, which promises a return to the giddy guitar fuzz of Molina’s past records.

Molina recorded the 18-minute LP In The Fade over the course of the pandemic, working with recording engineers and longtime collaborators Jack Shirley and Bart Thurber, and its coming out on Summer Shade, the new Run For Cover imprint run by Futy/Warfare/Object Of Affection member Madison Woodward. In a press release, Molina says that he’s pushing against whatever career-arc narratives that people were trying to project on him: “I kept hearing: ‘Oh, he’s maturing, he’s getting into other shit, writing more mature stuff.’ I thought, ‘Man, that’s kinda lame, no I’m not…’ Any time somebody expects something of me, I’m usually gonna do the opposite.”

First single “The Last Time” isn’t exactly the opposite of Kill The Lights, but it’s definitely Molina in a different zone. It’s a bittersweet power-pop jam that takes care of business in under 90 seconds, and it’s full of bright Thin Lizzy chords and hard-plastic Weezer crunch-riffs. It rules. Listen below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Aye Aye My My (Into The Fade)”
02 “The Last Time”
03 “Not Worth Knowing”
04 “Leave This Town”
05 “Don’t Be Far”
06 “Song For Friends (Slight Return)”
07 “Ovens Theme Pt. 4”
08 “Fuck Off Now”
09 “I Don’t Like That He”
10 “All I’ve Known”
11 “Burn Everyone”
12 “Four Sided Cell”
13 “Years Ago Pt. 2”
14 “Fluff”

In The Fade is out 8/12 on Summer Shade/Run For Cover. Pre-order it here.