[rating=3.50]
fun. is the project of Nate Ruess, late of The Format, having teamed up with ex-Anathallo multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost and Steel Train’s Jack Antonoff. Don’t call it a supergroup – call it superpop with a tad of mutual admiration society. Ruess wrote the majority of the music and tossed them over to Dost and Antonoff to write the music and out comes fun.: fun lyrics, fun songwriting, fun beats..fun fun fun (sounds odd when you keep sayin it).
All fun aside, by listening to the stringy ELO influences of “All The Pretty Girls” and the classic 70’s pop woven throughout Aim And Ignite, it sounds as if this trio did some homework with Jeff Lynne and George Martin. Ruess ‘durably distinctive vocals perfectly complement the giddy musical sounds of Antonoff and Dost. “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)” includes steel drums and festive horns in a raw carnival or what has been described as “Caribbean Queen. Roger Joseph Manning Jr. provides some soulful arrangement to “Barlights,” providing a gospel moment or two, while “Light a Roman Candle With Me” showcases more plaintive piano pop. Aim And Ignite proves that with fun., there’s no hidden recipe: just ten songs of you know what. Goths need not apply.
