fun. - Some Nights

The US mainstream scene is an odd place. You think you've got it sussed with your pithy remarks about Flo Rida, Katy Perry and Chris Brown and then out of a blue a totally random folksy band will burst into chart-topping stardom. Whether this is due to Superbowl advertisements and a guest feature from the undeniably talented & lovely Janelle Monáe - single-handedly responsible for the rise of "where the hell is the shortcut for that accent?" buzz up and down America - or just a genuinely talented band being rewarded is anybody's guess: there'll always be bands that the hipsters would prefer to get the success... and they invariably don't.

It's just something about their inoffensiveness that uneases me. They have buckets of theatricality and cutenesses about them that's willing to account for the glaring lack of uniquity about them, and even though they drop the F-bomb twice in just the intro it feels more like an out-of-touch take on youth and reverie (like a Baz Luhrmann film).


Said intro blends the usual ingredients: a cute piano tune, some opera background vocals and sound effects, and a vague attempt at a couple of soundbites ("Tea parties and Twitter, I've never been so bitter") but there's just a nauseatingly Mika-showtune quality about it that sickens my very core. And I like Mika. The non-intro song of the same name then begins with more cheerful Glee chants, and a (borrowed from Nena) proclamation that "this is it, boy, this is war". The vocals have a fairly catchy tune about them, and change pitch and tempo quicker than I can count - but the musical side of the track reeks of MOR blandness. Single 'We Are Young' then comes with a marching-drum rhythm and more cutesy vocals - and Janelle's guest spot is understated enough to make this very much their show.

Accordions find their way into 'Carry On', an undeniably chipper and uplifting little folk number that I can't find the heart to sully. It's lovely. Towards the end, and into the next track 'It Gets Better' (which, from a tracklisting point of view, you'd expect to be some cheesy contribution to the online support-network meme of the same name) things get a little power-pop. The guitars emerge to a silly degree, and the vocals scream of 200 nameless tween bands. They quickly return to Lion King soundtrack aspirations with 'Why am I the One?', a brief insight into a lyric of restlessness and soul-searching that's not exactly interesting. This fades with some synths into the much poppier 'All Alone', that again sounds like something straight off of the second (ie. poor) Mika album.

Just in case the message here of self-improvement and endless optimism wasn't abundantly clear, All Alone is followed with 'All Alright'. By this stage of the album I'm really lacking the enthusiasm to write anything about music in general, which should tell you something of its effect upon me. 'One Foot' certainly begins boldly enough to pique my interest, especially with the apt opening lyric "I'm standing in Brooklyn waiting for something to happen", but its hook is repeated to monotony. Children playing and the sound of fireworks kicks off 'Stars', so it's obviously going to be a track about the futility of existence and self-harm. The slow synths welcome lyrics about longing for a girl, and the tune sounds a little like an autotuned Marry You (Bruno Mars, just to clarify), so that's...something. Basically a massive Mr Hudson vibe about the whole track. We then close with 'Out on the Town' which sings "I came to your window last night/ I tried not to throw stones but I wanted to come inside". The words "Stupid shit" come later, which is by no means coincidence.


All in all this is really fucking boring.

Rating: 3.5/10
Highlights: We Are Young, Carry On
Avoid: It Gets Better, Some Nights (Intro), All Alone, All Alright

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