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Some Nights – fun. Album Review
Some Nights is the second album released by New York native indie pop group Fun., who have toured with such acts as Jack’s Mannequin and Paramore. The album starts off with “Some Nights”, very solemn and powerful with a piano and orchestral composition that feels passionate and sincere. This feeling carries over into the next track, also titled “Some Nights”, but is significantly louder and more powerful with an impressive drumbeat backing it up. Paired with the occasional guitar playing, the use of autotune on singer Nate Ruess’ voice can be hear, which I was taken aback by immediately. I liked his voice just fine without the autotune, so I was disappointed that I found it being used here. During my first listen I wrote it off and didn’t pay it much mind. The next track is the band’s first single, “We Are Young”, as seen on TV on Glee. Released back in September, this fantastic track never fails to give me chills whenever I hear it and it is certainly one of my favorite tracks of this year. The drumbeat, piano, and distorted bass line coerce the listener through the song from the beginning to end and really inspire one to listen to the track on repeat. But, before that, we still have seven more tracks to look at. The next track, “Carry On”, which was released in December as the third single off the album, is stylistically similar to the previous tracks, with a slight hint of an Irish inspiration to the song as well as a little more guitar use. After this track, the album begins to take steps backward. “It Gets Better” is the next song, relying heavily on electronic drumbeats that overpower the song and feel out of place not only with the song but the rest of the album. I felt the album was in a really solid place and had a great formula going before the onslaught of electronic songs on the album that took me by such great surprise that it worked against the album. The use of effects on Ruess’ voice continues on here and remain unwelcome. The song would have at the very least been decent had they not decided to throw the effects on his voice. The autotune is not only distracting and annoying but also sounds flat out bad. The album rights itself with “Why Am I The Only One”, probably my second favorite track on for its nice beat, cool progression, guitar riff and lyrics that seem heartfelt and not thrown together to make a pop song, but even in this song the autotune finds a way to sneak itself in at the very end. The following tracks “All Alone” “All Alright”, and “One Foot” (the second single released) are not monumental or stand out nearly as much as the album did when it first started. To close out the album, “Stars” is another perfect example of a great song ruined by the completely unnecessary overuse of autotune. I don’t know what possessed the band to take this route for the album, but I sincerely wish they hadn’t. How could they have gone wrong with an album that started out so well? When the album shines, it does so blindingly brightly. On the flipside, the tracks on the album that aren’t so good overwhelm even the best tracks, leaving the listener with a sour note in their ears and a confusion to what they just listened to. Recommended Tracks: “Some Nights”, “We Are Young,” “Why Am I the One” Final Score: 6 out of 10 -Jeremy Schultz |
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