Album Review: “Grand Romantic” – Nate Ruess

There was a lot of anticipation leading up to the release of Nate Ruess’s first full-length solo album Grand Romantic. The singer/songwriter has been critically received for his work in both Fun (stylized fun) and The Format since the early 2000s. However, it was the mainstream success of Fun’s 2011 track “We Are Young” that launched Ruess into superstardom. He even accompanied P!nk in her 2012 hit “Just Give Me a Reason.” In fact, this year Ruess made appearances on The Voice (as a guest judge) and Brian Wilson’s Pier Pressure (as a guest vocalist). It is evident that Nate Ruess has rapidly and inconspicuously climbed the ladder of pop music success, and I have been there watching his ascent.

The announcement of a solo Ruess album was coupled with a brand spanking new track called “Nothing Without Love.” This beast of a song blasted with a prideful roar, and my ears reveled in auditory bliss. It was climactic. It was self-exploratory. It was catchy. But, most importantly, it was fun, and I don’t mean Fun. Ruess aimed and ignited with an aural explosion that felt completely new. This was neither Fun nor Format. “Nothing Without Love” was Nate Ruess—a pure and distinctive sound that managed to bridge the gap between familiarity and novelty. “If a full album of this is what I can expect, then bring it on, baby!” I was hyped beyond belief.

Ruess continued to drop three more singles leading up to the release of Grand Romantic (“AhHa,” “Great Big Storm,” and “What This World Is Coming To”). These three tracks definitely scored a lot of replays on my Spotify, but they couldn’t quite match the sheer glory of “Nothing Without Love.” I was concerned. Maybe this album won’t be as nuclear as I thought it would be. Sure enough, I was right.

You know how they say movie previews are misleading because they only showcase the best parts? Previews are designed to make even Grown Ups 2 look like something that’s worth your time. Well, the four singles off Grand Romantic functioned very much like a misleading movie preview. They set the scene for a grandiose epic of an album but failed to address the forgettable tracks smacked in the middle. Coming right at the introduction of the album (the properly titled “Grand Romantic – Intro”), there’s an immediate sense of disappointment. Remember the intro to Some Nights? If you don’t, please give it a listen. It’s an operatic symphony of a track that immerses the listener right away. The Grand Romantic opener is nothing like that. It’s an incoherent 45 seconds of flat choral harmonies matched with strange filtered voices in the background. There is a theme of unfulfilled potential that is established here for the rest of the album.

Oh, and speaking of themes, let’s have at it, eh? Grand Romantic does not try to hide its core subject matter here. It’s love. Love up and down, and all around. But more specifically, we’re looking into the heart and psyche of a hopeless fairytale lover boy, lost in a postmodern world of superficiality and disconnectedness. It’s written all over the lyrics in these songs. From “Take It Back” (“Well, we’re just two lost ships passing through the night / Two lost lonely people inside”) to “Moment” (“I need a moment / I’m alright here on the floor / Well, I’m fine / I just need a moment to cry”). The same ideas manifest themselves in almost every track.

The problem is that these lines find themselves trapped in a series of overproduced, forgettable ballads that more or less blend into one another. This is a shame because it is possible (and probable) that the lyrics in Grand Romantic are coming from a genuine place. After all, Ruess has never been one to waste words or lose sight of the power of language. But the sappy instrumentation on some of these tracks makes the lyrics lose whatever shine they may have had otherwise.

I think about Fun’s song “The Gambler,” and how raw and evocative it was. It had minimalistic instrumentation because the song wanted the listener to focus full attention on the lyrics. They tell the story of a couple growing old together, fighting through sickness “’til they decide it’s [their] time.” It’s obvious that there is something profound and meaningful here. It’s poetry–pure and simple. The lyrics on Grand Romantic are more of a far cry from that. Plus, they aren’t even catchy to begin with. The vocals are ripe with strange inflections and sustained notes that make even Ruess’s poised and polished voice sound harsh and disjointed (see “It Only Gets Much Worse” and “You Light My Fire”). It almost sounds like Ruess is doing this to show off his vocal range rather than to communicate sincere emotion. The sound comes across as artificial–as if the words are coming from Ruess’s diaphragm and not his heart.

That’s not to say we’re looking at a bad album here. We’re not. But there is certainly an expectation that goes into an album like this–a breakthrough solo record brought to you by the same man who gave us Fun and The Format. These two acts have delivered some of my favorite songs and albums of all time, so I was beyond pumped to hear what their frontman had to say solo. But, alas, Grand Romantic didn’t deliver the epic musical voyage I was half hoping (half-expecting) it to be. Grand Romantic is, first and foremost, an album of unfulfilled potential–from the intro moving forward.

Oh well, at least there’s always “Nothing Without Love.”