"Grand Romantic" is the first solo album from current fun. and former The Format lead singer Nate Ruess. While the album has not officially been released yet, there are many places where you can find the album streaming in full for free, and it will be officially released on iTunes June 16th.
After listening to this album once through, the first thing that became very apparent was how Nate Ruess' style almost perfectly comprises half of what went into the last fun. album. This might sound elementary, but its very interesting to observe that fun. guitarist Jack Antonoff's solo effort with his band Bleachers adopts the hip-hop infusions and creative songwriting from "Some Nights", while "Grand Romantic" borrows the symphonic accompaniments and theatrical vocal structures.
The album begins with the obligatory fun. style thematic introduction track, which then leads into one of the singles off of this record, "AhHa". The marching percussion and vocal cadence give the opening of this song a "We Will Rock You" feel. We also get a taste of the soaring vocals Ruess employs for most of the record in this first chorus. These first two tracks almost seem like the segue between the "Some Nights" phase of Ruess' career and the first chapter of his solo endeavors. This is reflected in both the reference to "Some Nights" in this song's pre-chorus as well as the lyrics towards the end of the song (I think I'm ready to free/this grand romantic in me). From here, the slate is wiped clean, and Ruess has the opportunity to delve into the central theme of this album.
The next seven or eight songs comprise what really is the "album within the album" so to speak. Almost every song is about love and relationships in some way or another and almost every song features grandiose arrangements and production. Ruess and company manage to create a more organic sound on this album and the emotion in his voice shines through on tracks like "What This World Is Coming To" and "Grand Romantic". Sometimes this emotion brims over though and Ruess' tone suffers as a result in certain parts of "Nothing Without Love" and on "Moment".
One of the strengths of this album is definitely the performances from the collaborating artists. The duet with Beck ("What This World Is Coming To") is one of the best moments on this album and Jeff Tweedy's guitar solo on "Take It Back" is on par with Jack Antonoff's work on "Carry On".
The momentum that Ruess develops with the first half of the album seems to be neutralized by the last four songs, where the sonic equivalent of a bird flying into a glass door ensues. "Moment" and "It Only Gets Much Worse" are so cripplingly depressing it seems irresponsible to not have separated them from each other. "Harsh Light" and "Brightside" are good, but they don't seem to remain true to the theme Ruess works hard to establish in the previous songs and don't do well to end the album on a note that you would expect from a man who has said in some interviews that he is the happiest he's been in a long time and in a seemingly happy relationship with Charlotte Ronson.
In summary, this is a well-produced and well intentioned record with some great singles and memorable vocal performances but doesn't seem to fully grasp it's theme the way "Some Nights" did from start to finish, and this can largely be attributed to the hamstringing the back half of the tracklist does to the rest of the album.
Rating: 6/10
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