New York's Fun. Announce Debut Album & Tour - Win Fun. Tickets (COMPETITION)
Friday, 14 May 2010
Written by Nigel Sachdev
Hotly-tipped New York based three-piece fun. are set to release their debut album 'Aim & Ignite' on June 7th. The album will be preceded by the single 'All the Pretty Girls' on May 31st.
To celebrate the release of 'Aim & Ignite' fun. will be kicking off a UK tour in Liverpool next Friday, which includes a London show at O2 Academy2 in Islington on Wednesday 26th May - speaking of which Stereoboard.com has two pairs of tickets to giveaway to our lucky readers! To enter the competition just leave your details below.
What is fun.? we hear you ask! Apart from being a side effect of enjoyable activity, fun. is what happens when three extraordinarily talented musicians come together to create something altogether new and wonderful.
Nate Ruess, late of The Format, has teamed up with multi-instrumentalist Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff (Steel Train), resulting in their ingenious debut, 'Aim & Ignite'. The trio melds an array of diverse inspirations - spanning Broadway to The Beach Boys, "Nilsson Schmilsson' to "Pinkerton" - into an irresistible collection of freewheeling pop songcraft.
With 'Aim & Ignite', fun. have crafted a contemporary rethinking of classic 70s pop, where ornate arrangements and inspired orchestrations meet present-day rock 'n' roll. Take, for example, 'At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)', which suggests the heretofore unimagined sound of a Caribbean Queen, with Ruess belting extravagantly over a backdrop of festive horns and steel drums. 'Barlights' - arranged by longtime Ruess fave Roger Joseph Manning Jr. (Jellyfish, Imperial Drag, Moog Cookbook) - is brash and brassy blue-eyed soul, while 'Dost's Light A Roman Candle With Me' is rollicking and Randy Newman-esque.
Songs like the album-opening 'Be Calm' meld finely wrought chamber-pop orchestrations - all brass and strings and multi-tracked harmonies - with guitar-fueled rock 'n' roll, and tracks like 'Benson Hedges' and single 'All The Pretty Girls' are fit to burst with richly prolix lyricism and intricate melodic twists and turns, which provide plenty of room for Ruess' distinctive vocals to soar.
Full tracklisting:
1. Be Calm
2. Benson Hedges
3. All the Pretty Girls
4. I Wanna Be The One
5. At least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be)
6. Light A Roman Candle With Me
7. Walking the Dog
8. Barlights
9. The Gambler
10. Take Your Time (Coming Home)
BONUS CONTENT - The UK album will have following audio as bonus tracks in addition to 10 track album:
11. Intro (Live @ Fingerprints)
12. Walking The Dog (Live @ Fingerprints)
13. All The Pretty Girls (Live @ Fingerprints)
14. Interlude (Live @ Fingerprints)
15. The Gambler (Live @ Fingerprints)
16. At Least I'm Not As Sad (As I Used To Be) (Live @ Fingerprints)
17. Take Your Time (Live @ Fingerprints)
Following the band's week of sold out debut London shows in March, fun. are set to return to our shores to spread their Ben Folds, Shins and Polyphonic Spree reminiscent, uplifting musical vibes across the UK in May:
You can catch Fun. in the UK this May in the following UK cities:
Fri 21 May 2010 - Liverpool Shipping Forecast
Sat 22 May 2010 - Glasgow Stag and Dagger
Sun 23 May 2010 - Leeds Cockpit 2
Mon 24 May 2010 - Brighton Prince Albert
Wed 26 May 2010 - London O2 Academy2 Islington
Thu 27 May 2010 - Kingston New Slang
Sat 29 May 2010 - Bristol Dot to Dot Festival (Venue TBC)
Sun 30 May 2010 - Nottingham Dot to Dot Festival (Venue TBC)
Mon 31 May 2010 - Manchester Dot to Dot Festival (Venue TBC)
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Full tracklisting:
