FUN. - Aim and Ignite 2xLP (Blue Jay vinyl)

Label: Fun Music

Listen to “Be Calm” on fun.’s Aim and Ignite, and you will be forgiven for thinking it was written for Zach Efron by Gerald Way in a jester’s suit. The album marks a (fun) sojourn for Nate Ruess, former frontman/vocalist of the Format, currently lying dormant if not dead. For Aim and Ignite picks up where the Format’s Dog Problems (2006) left off — the latter a feel-good carnivalesque sing-along that knowingly put the kibosh on erstwhile label Atlantic’s entreaty for marketable indie pop.

Indeed, the self-released Aim and Ignite lands somewhere between Queen, the Mars Volta, and the soundtrack from Hairspray, and so is pretty original to say the least. Long gone is the guy who was once chided for hiding behind a Goo Goo Dolls-like anonymity. Aim and Ignite finds Ruess blazing in his own skin with plenty of chutzpah and jazz hands. With Aim and Ignite, Ruess has substituted a chance to further showcase his grasp of ’60s-style cerebral pop for something nearing parody. It may have been fun for him to do, but not so fun for those who have to listen to it.