Fun. - Some nights Review

They've obviously got talent to burn, so why all the overwhelmingly dense and cluttered arrangements? Why all the vocal processing? Why the incessant use of cliched pop motifs?

Why do they sound like they want to be a hip-hop act sometimes and Queen on other occasions?

It doesn't start out too badly. Opener Some Nights Intro has a Broadway-ish Bohemian Rhapsody quality, and seems creative enough.

It leads into the title track which has a few things going for it if you're into Glee and multi-vocal harmonised sing-alongs.

They've got hooks aplenty, and some energetic rococo pop rock riffs. But then the auto-tune starts - which is completely unnecessary given that lead singer Nate Ruess could hold his own with any X-Factor/Idol/Talent winners....full text Whether or not you like Some Nights, there is no doubt that fun. is about to leave their mark upon the mainstream. It’s the bold, adventurous and grandiose album that the Top 40 charts needs right now. With the radio vomiting out songs that sound like remixes of remixes, it’ll be refreshing to hear Nate Ruess’ voice pour out of those speakers. Don’t be surprised if we see Ruess, Dost and Antonoff on the Staples Center stage accepting the “Best New Artist” Grammy award a year from now.

While fun.’s debut album Aim & Ignite definitely flowed in the vein of previous Format releases, the tempo, vibe, and attitude on Some Nights is decidedly more ambitious. The boys of fun. (Ruess, Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost) drew a lot of influence from notable hip-hop albums like Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Drake’s Take Care, two albums that perfectly fused emotion with extravagance. The result of these influences in combination with their previous indie-pop sound is what takes Some Nights to electrifying heights. ...full text Trading in clever, orchestrated pop rock for hollow, overproduced stadium romps, fun. swing big and miss the point almost entirely on Some Nights, their second LP and first with Fueled By Ramen.
I’m not sure if the fault lies with the record label change or the hype overabundance that followed their moderately inventive debut, but the band’s pleasant Aim And Ignite from 2009 had a naivety and playfulness similar to Born Ruffian’s Red, Yellow & Blue from the prior year. This time around, the New York-based trio has taken their sound for a nosedive straight into the same bubblegum ocean where Coldplay’s recent misstep swims, but where Chris Martin and fellow non-rockers mostly succeeded in risky joyous bombast, Nate Ruess, Jack Antonoff, and Andrew Dost now put forth mediocrity so vainly sterile, the most daring things going for them are their album cover and their one-liner band name.

By the time “One Foot” and “Stars” come around, you’re scrambling to find your wits to care about the guitar solo blunders and auto-tuned acrobatics, let alone understanding what Ruess is even singing about. Skimming the top, fun. gets credit for its positive attitude and pocket full of catchy melodies, but on the whole, Some Nights remains forgettable....full text The creative process for Some Nights began in Upstate New York at Woodstock. The band (Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost, and Jack Antonoff) stayed in a cabin/studio for a week, as they fleshed out song ideas for their latest endeavor.

Upon realizing the influence that hip-hop was having on their music, the band recruited Jeff Bhasker (Kanye West) to work on the album with them.
"It was really interesting," Dost said. "He's never worked with a rock band before, and we've, obviously, never worked with a hip-hop producer before, so [there were] a lot of mutually inspired moments."

The end result of the band's collaboration with Bhasker was a powerful mash-up of genres within well-crafted melodies that create quite the music experience.

The intro to Some Nights very much sets the tone for the musical escapade that the band's listening audience is embarking on, complete with a lush, theatrical arrangement and the insanely gifted vocal stylings of one Nate Ruess.
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