Tony Molina

Hailing from Northern California, Tony Molina displays an ever-changing, wide-ranging musical character. His beginnings came in hardcore groups, yet he gradually shaped two separate approaches standing well apart from those roots. First issuing material as Ovens and later under his own name, he produces compact segments of tuneful pop split between hushed acoustic guitar ballads and loud electric numbers recalling Teenage Fanclub, with J Mascis and the Fastbacks' Kurt Bloch leading a twin-guitar assault. Molina gained notice via 2013's Dissed and Dismissed, an effort relying almost wholly on his more forceful material to strong result. Refusing easy categorization, he turned instead to the softer acoustic aspect of his output for the following pair of releases, among them the Baroque pop-tinged 2018 LP Kill the Lights, before delivering 2022's In the Fade, which blended every element of his prior solo work.

Molina performed in assorted D.I.Y. hardcore outfits from his teenage years onward, simultaneously tracking brief compositions that ranged from acoustic ballads to nearly symphonic metal, each rarely exceeding a minute. Those pieces appeared as Ovens, starting with the 2006 single "Beau Goes to the Hospital." He maintained a steady output both in bands and as Ovens, issuing the first recordings under his own name in 2009, the twelve-track Embarrassing Times cassette. Entering the 2010s, he kept releasing as Ovens, joined the lo-fi punk band Violent Change for their self-titled album, and led the hardcore group Caged Animals. In 2013 Molina put out his second solo album, Dissed and Dismissed, twelve short fuzzy songs drawing from '90s indie and power pop acts including Weezer, Redd Kross, and Dinosaur Jr. Conceived merely as a demo, the set attracted melodic guitar pop listeners and secured interest from two storied American imprints, Matador and Slumberland. The former issued the Six Tracks EP later that year; the latter signed him and re-released Dissed and Dismissed in 2014.

While contributing guitar to the hardcore band Scalped, Molina started his debut Slumberland project. He wrote and tracked more than forty songs, sensing the need to perfect the album and uncertain which direction to pursue. Ultimately he abandoned a full-length in favor of an EP. Removing power and guitars from his pop approach, the eight-song Confront the Truth presented Molina on acoustic guitars, incorporating keyboards and reflecting his admiration for the Beatles. His following album, 2018's Kill the Lights, developed more organically. He developed several songs alongside friend Jasper Leach, then chose to complete a record from the resulting demos. Cut across two studios and a bedroom, the album again centered on Molina's acoustic guitar and engaging pop melodies, yet added folk-rock-suited twelve-string electric, a full-band texture, and Leach's keyboards. The next year Smoking Room persuaded Molina to assemble a set of previously unreleased tracks spanning his career. Issued in July 2019 as SONGS FROM SAN MATEO COUNTY, the fourteen-track collection appeared just as Molina finished a U.S. tour supporting Culture Abuse. Preparing a new album while composing fresh material, he also revisited the archives for unfinished demos from the Ovens period. Once a sufficient group was assembled, he entered the studio during COVID restrictions alongside longtime collaborator Leach. Additional contributors included drummer Josh Mendoza and Sarah Rose Janko, his partner in the folk-rock duo the Lost Days, who supplied harmony vocals. The completed album, In the Fade, appeared on Summer Shade, a Run for Cover subsidiary, in August 2022 and marked the first solo release to unite every facet of his musical personality.