After hearing alternative-indieband Fun’s first studio album, "Aim and Ignite", I was eagerly looking forward to the release of a future album. After I saw Fun perform live at the WebsterTheater in Hartford, I was literally counting down the days until the release of their second studio album, "Some Nights". On February 21st, 2012, that moment finally came and I was ecstatic. I am so happy to say that you should be ecstatic as well.
Fun did not at all disappoint; Some Nights has far exceeded my expectations. It is an album full of emotionally charged lyrics, vocals, and beats.
From the first track alone, “Some Nights (Intro)”, you glimpse the amazingly warped, unique, and downright eclectic version of an alternative/indie band’s album. As lead singer Nate Ruess croons, a soft melody plays in the background and, at certain points, chorus voices back up the vocals, and instruments of all types – woodwinds, strings, and glockenspiel – weave intricately through the song and steadily build up into fantastic crescendo.
This is a signature style of Fun and I hope they never let go of it. It is a theme that permeates almost every song on "Aim and Ignite" and, now, "Some Nights". It is a theme which brings about a sense of emotional highs and lows that almost forces you to make an emotional connection to each song on the album.
Such an emotional connection can be made with the album’s fourth song, “Carry On”, about overcoming internal struggles and moving on.“May your past be the sound of your feet upon the ground; carry on”. Set to the usual guitar and percussion, but with the occasional insertion of harmonica and strings, “Carry On” flows in a way which is hardly seen in today’s popular music.
This is the magic of instrumentalists Jack Antonoff and Andrew Dost’s talent. It weaves through the album and carries you away on a theatrical wave of gorgeous sound. Just listen to "Some Nights" andyou will know exactly what I’m talking about; trust me.
Even in the slower songs, like “Why Am I The One”, the instrumental accompaniment is as soulful as Nate’s voice. Many albums have the token slow song that simply uses a slower melody with minimal percussion. These are trite and cliché and it is fantastic that a band like Fun has added its own spin to this classically slower song.
It is my opinion that the best albums have a little of everything: something to dance to, something to cheer you up, and something to make you cry. "Some Nights" can do all this and more for anyone, if you let it. Fun is one of the best bands to have burst into popularity in the last year and "Some Nights" deserves every little bit of praise that it will surely receive in the months and years to come.
Some Nights is now available on iTunes and most other music retailers and if you don't go out and buy it, you will have missed out on what is already one of the best albums of 2012; and it's only February.