Like his bandmate Jack Antonoff, fun., lead singer Nate Ruess is trying out his own thing. Where Antonoff’s album as Bleachers was full of call-backs to ‘80s pop rock seemingly tailored to a John Hughes montage, Ruess’ record, is something else Grand Romantic. By enlisting producers like Beck and Jeff Tweedy, Ruess takes that stretchy voice and guns for something more fanciful and starry-eyed. While it’s not surprising that Ruess’s record is good — as good as anything fun. has ever made, in fact — it’s surprising that the gambit totally works.
It’s soaring stuff. Grand Romantic is all about love, whose benefits Ruess is proclaiming for the majority of Grand Romantic. Take, for example:
Nate Ruess loves love. Let him love it, damn it!
You can stream the new record here.
