Hearts on Parade in Bloomington, MN

American Hi-Fi honed a harder edge on its prior album, THE ART OF LOSING, but HEARTS ON PARADE features the Boston quartet discovering its inner power-pop geek. For its Maverick Records debut, the group teamed up with friend and pop-rock maestro Butch Walker for a record that will appeal to anyone who's ever hummed along to a Fountains of Wayne song or played air-guitar to a Cheap Trick tune. Here American Hi-Fi piles vocal harmonies and delicious hooks onto its tales of heartbreak. Frontman Stacy Jones exemplifies the approach by fusing Cheap Trick's "Dream Police" with the aesthetic of Ben Folds for the anthemic "The Geeks Get the Girls." Walker does a fine job guiding this ship, which is populated with odes to everyday ennui (the harmony-soaked "The Everlasting Fall") and romantic betrayal (the handclap-heavy rocker "Separation Anxiety").