Hipster irony is only painful and bad 99 percent of the time.

Then the largely magnificent power pop band Fountains of Wayne will release a new CD where they make delightful fun of such things and, for a while, it's not so painful. In fact, it's melodically wonderful.

FOW songwriters Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger are beautifully adept at lampooning all segments of society with innately catchy melodies - but here's a little secret: they actually have great empathy for the characters in their tunes. That's a delicate commodity.

The band, touring behind their latest pretty great album, "Sky Full of Holes," plays a free show Friday in the Mohegan Sun Wolf Den. Hope for new gems as well as "Fine Day for a Parade," "Strapped for Cash" and "Go, Hippie" - and count on hits such as "I-95," "Denise," "Mexican Wine" and, yes, "Stacy's Mom."

- RICK KOSTER

Fountains of Wayne, 8 p.m. Friday, Mohegan Sun Wolf Den; free; 1-888-664-3426, mohegansun.com, fountainsofwayne.com.