These Ghosts Have Bones

Fastball were hardly the best of the one-hit wonder alt-rock acts to skitter across the radar in the 1990s, but they were inarguably better than most of their peers; that said, what is anyone supposed to expect from the first solo album from Fastball's guitarist? Probably not quite what they get from Miles Zuniga's These Ghosts Have Bones, a collection of 11 Beatlesque pop tunes that chronicle a relationship that's clearly crashed and burned. The liner notes describe These Ghosts Have Bones as "a record/therapy session by Miles Zuniga," and it was written and recorded in the wake of a messy divorce; while the material is tuneful and lively enough that this doesn't sound like a weepy meditation on lost love, the lyrical focus of these songs is pretty hard to avoid, and if Zuniga isn't crying, he has good reason not to sound happy as he senses his spouse's infidelity on "Feel It in Your Kiss," tries to decide what to do with himself on "Elizabeth," and struggles to fool himself and other