Review Summary: Grand? Check. Romantic? less so.
Nate Ruess is no longer the broken hearted teenager in his twenties that he was in The Format's
Interventions and Lullabies and
Dog Problems, nor is he the man who was replaced by a pair of sunglasses at a bar. He seems to have finally found the love he was yearning for though it may not be everything he hoped for.
Grand Romantic is much less of a fairytale love story that some of the singles released thus far would have you believe. There's violence, depression and what appears to be a lack of closure on Nate's part, however there's also bittersweet optimism and an eagerness that Nate has to let everyone know that he found love and he wastes no time telling everyone about.
'Nothing Without Love' shows Nate's incredibly unique voice and his range when belting out his love for, well, love. A song so incredibly romantic said with such an unwavering straight face could be disastrous in hands of another artist, but it feels incredibly genuine coming from Nate. It's not a song that feels like it's trying hard to be romantic to appeal to a particular crowd, but more a joyful release that can't be contained. 'You Light My Fire' is much more controlled and breezes by rather quickly but none the less is irresistibly catchy, filled with bouncy synths and organs. 'AhHa' feels like
Some Nights compressed into one song, featuring the thumping percussion of 'One Foot' and an anthem chorus that resembles the first half's singles (he even samples the
Some Nights title track) with the vocal effects that are spread throughout it. It boasts the better lyrics of the singles here, the best of which are in the bridge, where Nate recalls the time when he was 25 and thought of taking his own life. It's not as initially attractive as the other singles but feels a lot more progressive when compared to them.
Some of the other singles don't fair quite as well though. 'Great Big Storm' feels very familiar and is more stylistically in line with
Aim and Ignite with classical strings at the front lines of the song. It's big, catchy and still stands out among pop music, however concerning Nate it feels a little too safe and expected with sub par lyrics. In 'What This World is Coming To' Beck brings his influences strongly and it ends up sounding like it would be more suitable coming from his Grammy winning album
Morning Phase. Driven mostly by acoustic guitars and Beach Boys like vocals, one would expect edgier lyrics with it's title, perhaps a critique on love itself. Unfortunately it doesn't really lead anywhere as well as having Nate's least interesting vocal performance on the album. There's some decent lyrics and a fun unexpected guitar solo, but it lacks any emotional power found in his previous moments of thought and retrospect such as 'On Your Porch', 'The Gambler' and one of the later tracks in
Grand Romantic.
Despite some of mid album disappointments though, the last 4 tracks flow brilliantly. Upon my first listen when the title track was closing out, i thought that it would be the perfect way to end the album, only to look down on the track list to realise there were two more songs to go. My nerves however surprisingly dissispiated 5 seconds into 'Harsh Light' which strongly builds upon it's preceding track and very much feels like the ending of
Grand Romantic and that 'Brightside' is the epilogue, which has Nate reflecting on all that has passed. Not to be missed though is the first of the last four tracks which is one of the Nate's best ever. 'It Only Gets Much Worse' shows that not all is well in the world of the Grand Romantic, it's painfully blunt, achingly sad and is bursting with emotion that "What This World is Coming To" lacks. Strings sweep and swell and match Nate's vocals perfectly, a big highlight in Nate's already impressive catalogue.
It is difficult for Nate to top his previous work, some of which remains to be some of the best Pop music made in a long, long time, but he can rest assured he's made a more than solid debut filled with some so-so singles, some great singles and a very strong closing section, all the while retaining his strong identity that separates him from the crowd.
