fun.
Aim and Ignite
Unsigned / Independent

4 stars / 5
When The Format disbanded at what many to believed the peak of their career, heartbroken fans clamored for an immediate reuniting, or at the very least, for them to continue making music in some other venue. For steadfast followers of vocalist Nate Ruess, their prayers have been answered with Aim and Ignite, the solo debut of Ruess’s new band fun. Ruess recruited Jack Antonoff of Steel Train and Andrew Dost of Anathallo to fill out fun’s roster. The resulting debut, Aim and Ignite is a full fledged 10 song pop record, exploring multi-faceted musicianship and detailed catch-all composition. In short, it’s just what the doctor ordered for patient fans awaiting the follow up to The Format’s looming masterpiece “Dog Problems”.

The album opens with “Be Calm” finding Ruess backed by a delicate string section before blowing into a dashing paranoid exposure on the lead vocalist’s mental struggles with the recent disbandment of his past. Ruess carries the same theme throughout Aim and Ignite, much similar to his recent project, always seemingly brinking on an emotional breakdown whilst somehow keeping his pieces somewhat intact. The nostalgia found throughout Aim and Ignite doesn’t stop there. In fact, it seems that nostalgia is the framework for many ofAim and Ignite’s lyrical themes. In “Barlights” Ruess is found reminiscing in front of a gospel choir of past times running through his neighborhood with old friends;

“Now all the barlights are blinking in time
to Mexican music, it’s taunting the pavement
and I feel alive.”

On the album’s first single “At Least I’m Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)” Ruess makes it readily apparent that he does not find full contentment in all of his past. The song finds the album at one of it’s catchiest moments, with a hollering chorus and cloudless blue sky instrumentation that borders on Jamaican Reggae masking it’s somewhat depressing lyrical content.

The rest of the album is held together by steady contributors like “Light A Roman Candle With Me” “Walking The Dog” and “Benson Hedges” which all stay true to Aim and Ignite’s vast yet concise assortment of sound, making way for the album’s standout track “The Gambler” which may very well be the best song that has ever been penned by Nate Ruess. Written from the perspective of an aging couple, (one could very well assume it to be Ruess’s parents) the song tells the tale of a life-long love from the time of their introduction to their seemingly warm ending. Backed by a moving piano and swooning strings, “The Gambler” is incredibly moving, due to it’s immaculate composition and emotive lyrical content.

As “Take Your Time (Coming Home)” closes the album to the tune of a euphoric bar-room brawl, it becomes clear that Aim and Ignite is a work that is sure to impress old fans as well as garner a substantial amount of new followers. The acclaim and growth that has followed fun in just a short year is well deserved. With it’s release, the band have done what many try so hard but fail to achieve; creating a balanced pop record that is steady and intricate while not taking itself so seriously that it becomes tiring or faded. After all, by the band name chosen by Ruess & Co. it’s easily apparent what the goal of this project really is…

fun.

mp3:: fun. – be calm
mp3:: fun. – i wanna be the one
purchase | myspace | official

show review – fun. @ avalon 5/13/09