Aim & Ignite

I'm a huge format fan so it was kind of a given that I'd become a Fun. fan. This albums amazing if you want a break from the depressing world of mordern music. Its nice to have a happy album for a change. Aim and Ignite is simply easy listening fun.

The possibility that pop can be intelligent as well as providing
a little mindless escapism from the chaos of our times is given
substantial creedence with Fun's debut album 'Aim and Ignite'.
These three young gentlemen demonstrate the courage and imagination
to create music which is as challenging as it is captivating.

The ten tracks in this quite extraordinary collection are so
chock-full of energy, flair and wildly whimsical ideas that it
seems almost always to be on the verge of bursting at the seams.
It is a veritable peacock's tail of an album!

Nate Ruess has a voice which can leap from a whisper to a controlled
stratospheric scream, with power enough to strip the paint from theatre
ceilings, in less than a moment. It is limber and focussed and deals
with the considerable complexity of these compositions with calculated
and fearless aplomb. He is a fine singer and a consummate musician.

No less so Jack Antonoff, an adroit guitarist and Andrew Dost, whose
multi-instrumental skills are largely responsible for giving such
distinctive colour and variation to the band's unique sound.

'Aim and Ignite' is far, far more than a dry academic excercise however.
These marvellous tunes glisten like rare jewels in a Faberge easter egg.

Each song is a little drama. Opening track 'Be Calm' is a cracking
example of what the band does best. Fin-De-Siecle Emo! Mr Ruess hits
some big top notes right in the middle and with such verve that his
cohorts must have needed earplugs to survive the enslaught!

The vocal harmonies embracing the pure pop ambience of 'All The
Pretty Girls' (Hall and Oates would have been jealous!) are
an absolute delight! The sinuous string arrangement stands out,
too, as a model of luminous economy.

The rhythmic and melodic twists and turns of 'At Least I'm Not
As Sad (As I Used To Be)' follow an unpredictable and enthralling
course. Part vaudeville, part playground chant, part dizzy
fairground ride! Pure genius!

The skittering beats and good-humoured guitar licks of
'Walking The Dog' seem to be taking us in a fairly safe
direction but as with everything else in Funland things
never quite continue down the path we thought we were on!
The raucous chorus, replete with singalong "Nah Nah Nahs",
is an absolute bats-in-the-belfry blast of an idea!

The piano-led 'The Gambler' is a magically mature construction.
Mr Nuess dances like Fred Astaire, in and out of the strings like
a man with the wind under his heels. The touchingly bitter-sweet
lyrics belie the mercurial flow of the instrumental arrangement.

Final track 'Take Your Time (Coming Home)' is full of light and
shade. A minor epic, saturated with raw and convincing emotion.

This glorious music is much more than the sum of its parts.
Clever boys? Indupitably! Fun? Abso-blinkin-lutely!!

Essential.

Ever since Nate Ruess released word of The Format's anticipated third LP, "Holy Ghosts" my excitement has not died away, despite my three-month-long depression after the band's breakup.

But there's now a super collaboration among the theatrical, ex-Anathallo Andrew Dost; Jack Antonoff, the creative guitarist of Steel Train,; and Nate Ruess, with his the holy voice and lyrics. After the breakup of The Format, Ruess moved away from his past in Arizona (which is referenced by any talk of sun from Ruess) to the lively New York City.

Accordingly Aim and Ignite glows with Ruess' newfound better-off city life.

All three musicians provide vivid and distinct styles mixed with the sound of fun. Most noticeably heard from Dost is his chorus effect, also a strong piece of his solo release LP of Columbus earlier this year.

Antonoff's original mellow-rock guitar shines throughout the entire album; for a strong example of his influence, check out Steel Train's "I Feel Weird" off their latest LP Trampoline and then listen to the last track on Aim and Ignite "Take Your Time (Coming Home)".

Ruess impresses with his vocals and lyrical originality once again, but this time with a new sense of confidence and pride, as he says in "Barlights": "for the first time, in a long time I feel alive." This is a perfect album for a long stretch of sunny road, and it's definitely a lot of fun to belt out--placing it in a genre called "alternative show tune rock" wouldn't be entirely inappropriate or misleading.

This bold debut album starts off with a Caulfield-esque breakdown on the streets of NYC in "Be Calm", which sets a lasting theme and style. Ruess's voice conveys a fragile yet powerful and confident feature in the opening track, which helps guide the listener's exploration through his troubled past and illustrates how he came to Aim and Ignite, a very happy place in his life.

Fans are already familiar with the next track, "Benson Hedges" (actually a nod to one of Ruess's favorite movies, "The Baxter" starring Michael Showalter) as it was released as a demo to give needy fans an early look at what to expect from the trio.

In the middle of the album, "At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)" is another familiar song to strike the listener. The steel drums featured in this track had me bobbing up and down along with Antonoff's familiar guitar style, which is also prominent in the next track. "Light a Roman Candle with Me" is a soft, beautiful ballad, typical of Ruess. This is the type of song I want to hear when I wake up, brush my teeth, and go for a stroll down a NYC street.

"Walking the Dog" is a bright song about Ruess' struggles in love, and he has now discovered that he doesn't need what his old heart used to crave. Also, in "Walking the Dog" Ruess references Antonoff's Steel Train song "Better Love" when he sings, "How you lost your mind, and your wrist got bruised, and you wanted better love well it's sleeping in your bedroom," a nod to the lasting friendship and influence the artists have had on each other.

"The Gambler", a unique depiction of love that Ruess wrote for his parents, strikes the romantic in me like a Zooey Deschanel movie. Told in the voice of his mother, Ruess takes the listener through his parents' first encounter, to the birth of their children (Nate and sister), through the near loss of his father, and up to the aged love that they still enjoy. "I swear when I grow up I won't just buy you a rose / I will buy the flower shop and you will never be lonely."

Like, Ruess's parents when they were eighteen, I have already completely fallen in love with this album. Not one song even remotely disappoints. That trend continues with the closing song, as I cannot imagine a better track to finish off this ten song masterpiece than "Take Your Time (Coming Home)." A near eight-minute-long homecoming, Ruess expresses that he finally feels at home, and shows how he made it there, "How did I end up here? / How did I find love and conquer all my fears? / See, I made it out. / Out from under the sun. / And the truth is that I feel better because I've forgiven everyone".

Ruess should be extremely proud of his new found life, love, and album. He's given us so much over the past six years. So give him one back and check out the album, you won't regret it.