Nate Ruess - Grand Romantic (Album Review)

When it came out that there might be some trouble with the Fun. camp (which was denied by Fun.) and that Nate Ruess would instead be releasing a solo album it was about as odd as Jack Antanoff releasing his solo project Bleachers when the Grammy award winning breakout act Fun. could be working on album number three. It was poised to be their big moment. Now fans are unsure if we'll ever hear another album of meteoric proportions like Some Nights. The years following that album have been full of curve balls from the artists involved in the band. Now Ruess unveils his next big step with his debut solo album, Grand Romantic.

Ruess has the ability to awe a crowd by himself. His vocal ability is nothing short of stellar. The Format and Fun. were successful in large part due to his fantastic pipes. Now on the other side of the coin both The Format and Fun. had some pretty talented musicians in the flow as well. With Grand Romantic Ruess puts himself front and center. It mostly works. Yeah, it doesn't feel quite as flashy as some of his band's previous albums specifically Dog Problems or Some Nights, but you know it has way more than a few moments of great success. Recycled Fun. song "Harsh Lights" finds its way onto the solo album and it's an instant standout on first listen. "AhHa" has some pretty nice sounding instrumentation, solid lyrics, and it's a great second song for the album after a brief introduction. It's super solid and grew on me with repeated listens. I could see fans of both Fun. and The Format enjoying the song.

"What The World Is Coming To" features Beck and it is a slow burning ballad. It slows the pace some in the middle of the album. It's not a bad song. The inclusion of Beck feels a little like, HEY LOOK WE GOT BECK ON THIS THING BECAUSE WE COULD! It just feels like that kind of moment, but if you can get him, I guess why not. Honestly it works pretty darn well. The title track of the album has some really vibrant and lush musical flourishes. It's a fantastic song that's a standout song of Nate's career in my opinion and it's a moment on the album when I think to myself that he's really owning this as a solo artist. He's giving it his all vocally and it works in a massively impressive successful way. It's not a huge rocker, but I just constantly return to it and enjoy the build ups in it and all the small things built into the song.

Overall if you've enjoyed any of the bands Ruess has fronted you're really going to enjoy this one. It's a “fun” romp (no pun intended). It may not be the Fun. follow up a lot of fans wanted, but Ruess provides the listener with quite a few really great sounding and well performed songs. His vocal performance is as good as it has ever been. This album may find critics, but I'm feeling like it's mostly lived up to the expectations I had for it. I didn't expect an Earth-shattering listening experience like Some Night gave me. I honestly just wanted to go into this and give the songs a chance. I expected a solid, well performed album with a number of songs that encapsulated some of the better musical sounds Nate has dabbled in over the years while possibly exploring one or two new things. I think you get that on this album and I'm content with that. The neat thing with this album was that with every listen I find myself enjoying it more and more. It would be hard to not enjoy at least some songs on this album if you've been a fan of anything Ruess has done over the years. He steps out on his own in a successful way. It may not sparkle quite as bright as Fun. on first listen but it definitely has its own bright spots and stands pretty well on its own.