Hurry’s fourth full-length album, Fake Ideas, is an unabashed embrace of the power pop’s most charming signifiers — jangly guitars, big choruses, warm harmonies — but like many of the genre’s standouts, there’s something deeper to be found within the bright hooks. The album marries classic love songs with an exploration of Scottoline’s experiences while coming to grips with an anxiety disorder, and how those misleading thoughts, ideas, and feelings can create a false image of one’s own world. “Ugh,” he says, regarding being forced to provide that sincere description.

But sincerity is just as much a part of Hurry’s DNA as Scottoline’s wry demeanor. The Philadelphia-based band — made up of drummer Rob DeCarolis, bassist Joe DeCarolis, guitarist Justin Fox, and rounded out by Scottoline on guitar, keys, and vocals — formed in 2012, and over the years they’ve assembled a catalog of reliably great albums for fans of catchy, longing guitar pop. With their previous two full-lengths Guided Meditation (2016) and Every Little Thought (2018) the band earned praise from critical fixtures like Pitchfork, NPR, Stereogum, and more, as well as more unusual accomplishments like having one of their songs in heavy rotation in Gap stores. “It wasn’t even an upbeat song,” Scottoline says. “It was a pretty somber one. Why would people want to shop with that on?” Gap Inc. has subsequently closed a majority of its stores. There is no data showing the two are linked.

Fake Ideas was recorded with engineer Mike Bardzik at his studio, Noisy Little Critter, which is located in a Thorndale, PA, barn. The album maintains the band’s beloved anxiety-ridden affability as Scottoline leans into the influence of his songwriting heroes and further hones his knack for earworm melodies. “The last few releases I had been purposefully challenging myself to escape traditional rock sounds,” he explains. “This time around there has been a back to basics approach with both the songwriting style and instrumentation. We recorded the album to tape and there’s just a lot of rawness to it, but still with some very delicate and pretty elements.”

“It’s Dangerous” and “A Fake Idea” open the album with a one-two punch of shimmering guitars and undeniable hooks that would sound right at home during power pop’s chart-topping ‘90s heyday. The latter encapsulates the kind of honest observations about navigating love and mental illness that make up much of Fake Ideas. “The thoughts we have are only thoughts, and if you give them too much attention or make them too real, your entire grasp on your life can be distorted,” Scottoline explains. “Mental illness can make you truly believe things that aren’t real, and those ideas can steer your life in directions that can poison a lot of relationships.” Elsewhere songs like the frenetic, sub-two minute “Doomsday” and the sweeping, Noel Gallagher-esque “(Sometimes I’m About It, And) Sometimes I’m Not There” demonstrate Hurry’s willingness to explore a wide range of dynamics and moods within their guitar-driven foundation. It’s a welcome sense of musical and lyrical self-awareness that never gets in the way of a good time, like on the crunchy “Keep Being Yourself” where Scottoline interrogates the sardonic defenses that can sometimes get in the way of vulnerability and connection. “We waste so much time being ironic because we’re afraid of what people might think of who we really are,” he says.

Throughout Fake Ideas, Scottoline doesn’t shy away from that very human desire to feel comfortable within one’s own head. It’s an open-hearted admission of uncertainty that has resulted in Hurry’s most assured work to date. The album closes with “In My Very Old Age,” a meditation on acceptance and change that’s also a joyful blast of fuzz and effervescent harmonies. It’s an effective combination that not only sums up Fake Ideas, but also Hurry and their humble contribution to power pop’s enduring and comforting presence.

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