After a string of wonderful and criminally undervalue albums on a series of low profile record labels, it's no real wonder that widespread success has eluded Ozma, despite the fact that they absolutely deserve it.

Their fourth album, named after their Californian hometown, continues their brand of power pop in the vein of American acts Nada Surf, Jimmy Eat World and most obviously Weezer. Their style of combining 80’s kitsch culture and nostalgia with duelling synths and guitars, nearly came to an end in mid 2004 when band tensions and diminishing touring lead to a split. Pasadena marks the return of the original line-up, albeit with new drummer Ken Shane, galvanised with the same quality spirited rock. Thanks in part to the collaboration of a few indie luminaries (including the Rentals’ Rachel Haden and Nada Surf’s Matthew Caws).

Two of the band’s older (and best) tracks are re-recorded here, opening with the Russian(!) influenced spy chords of “No One Needs To Know” and a new version of “Eponine.” The latter focusing on the muscular stick work of Shane and perfectly demonstrating the interlocking guitar work of Ryan Slegr and Jose Galvez in a series of firing riffs and rising guitar licks. The band is rounded out by the melodic synthesizers and keyboards of Star Wick and Frontman/Bassist Daniel Brummel.

While those two tracks are an excellent starting point for newer fans, the rest of the album displays a new maturity in structure and sound. While the album is never coy at offering up a sunny sing-a-long, there is also a darker sincerity at work. Perhaps bruised from the vagaries of (non)success, when Brummel sings lines such as “Hold on before you break me/give me one more chance,” you know he truly means it.

There is a perfect balance between light and dark at work, the distorted rock-out of “Barriers” providing a good analogy for the album’s balance, shifting between minor chord verse and bright shimmering chorus. All this talk of emotional quandary would be to deny the album its sheer fun, as tracks such as “Lunchbreak” and “Straight Flush” power effortlessly through stomping rhythms and multiple chord changes.

Highlights include the lilting “I Wonder” with its beautiful arrangement of heavily strummed acoustics and keyboard strings as Brummel intones “you can exist in a world/without being a part of the world/and somehow that’s comforting/when you’re not where you want to be.” So too “Heartache Vs. Heartbreak” a perfectly calculated duet on the age-old question mark that is love, which just also happens to contain some excellent rock music.

While Ozma still haven’t quite captured their full potential, Pasadena isn’t without its flaws, it’s a triumph that that short-term disband seems like a minor hiccup in their trajectory to greatness.

Rating: 4/5