fun. – Carry On

My word, he’s got a good voice.

Tom: Okay, it’s time to find out. Are Fun–

Tim: Actually, it’s–

Tom: Nope. I’m deliberately ignoring their ridiculous name stylisation there – really a one-hit hipster wonder, or can they back it up? “Some Nights”, the second single, managed number 7 – so here’s the third.

Tom: First of all: where the hell have I heard that piano intro before?

Tim: Not sure, because I haven’t. Does go on a bit, though.

Tom: And second: my word, he’s got a good voice. Distinctive, but not distracting: to do the first voice almost a capella is brave, but he can do it.

Tim: Yes, he can. And speaking of that first verse, I was worried for a while that this was going to be their “look at us, we can do a meaningful ballad” track which are so often a pile of cack (YES I’M LOOKING AT YOU, ONE DIRECTION, WITH YOUR ED SHEERAN-PENNED PILE OF BOLLOCKS).

Tom: I believe the technical term is “sack of bollocks”, but yes, you’re right. Is this that ‘meaningful’ ballad though?

Tim: Fortunately, no, and thus doesn’t get me worked up in quite the same way.

Tom: No-one would have predicted “We Are Young” going to number 1, let alone still being in the charts now, and yet – there it is. And now, they’ve got a Celtic-influenced track with a big electric guitar solo and a positive message? I can only hope this does well, because it deserves to.

Pink feat. Nate Ruess – Just Give Me A Reason

I recommend hitting ‘play’ and then just closing your eyes.

Tim: Like this, do you?

Tom: Yes, I know, I’m a Pink fan, I’m biased.

Tim: But not enough of a fan to write her name properly, I notice. HMMM?

Tom: If ridiculous name-styling gets in the way of writing things clearly, then I’ll happily get rid of it. Anyway, yes, the new album’s bloody amazing. And the best track off it, by a long way, is the Big Emotional Ballad. Oh, and it’s got a lyric video, but it’s much better without: I recommend hitting ‘play’ and then just closing your eyes.

Tim: Okay, I didn’t close my eyes. And I noticed the weirdest thing ever. Well, not ever, obviously, but it’s bloody odd: the apostrophes in the “you’re” and “we’re” at 2:33 and 3:40 are far too high, unlike any of the others. Anyway, music.

Tom: “We’re not broken, just bent, and we can learn to love again.” Isn’t that gorgeous?

Tim: Yes, it is. Can’t disagree with you there.

Tom: The male voice is Nate Ruess – and if he sounds familiar, it’s because he’s better known as the lead singer of Fun.

Tim: AGAIN with the names, blimey – it’s written as fun., please.

Tom: That’s still bloody ridiculous. It’s a little odd that he’s singing in mostly the same vocal range as Pink, but once that oddity slides by, this is just a beautiful track. Piano and drumkit, simple melodies, simple chorus.

Tim: You know, I think we had pretty much exactly the same thoughts going on whilst listening to that song. It’s a lovely song.

Tom: I’m a sucker for Big Emotional Ballads, if they’re done well – and for me, at least, this track made me pause the album for a while to (metaphorically at least) get my breath back.

Tim: And it almost made me not want to be annoying with my name-pedantry up there. Almost.