Frustrated that each of the indie labels behind her last two albums folded, Jill Sobule created a website to solicit donations so she could release this one herself. She ended up raising $85,000 from friends, fans and random celebrities like Fred Savage (who donated $100). It was enough money to hire star producer Don Was, and the process seems to have reinvigorated her muse: California Years is flirtatiously retro pop rock, full of mordant punch lines delivered cold with Sobule's childlike voice. Seemingly autobiographical lyrics reveal tragicomic truths: For "Wendell Lee," Sobule tracks down ex-lovers online and worries, "I wonder if I look that bad too." She's older, but so much wiser.