PB&Jams: fun.
This week I found myself experiencing quite the dearth of new music inspiration, which has proven to be a bit of a pain in a few areas of my life — for example, the fact that the people taking my spin class can only sprint to “Ugly Heart” so many times before mutinying. Consequently, for this week’s PB&Jams I’ve resorted to revisiting an album that I will love unconditionally forever and ever — fun.’s “Aim and Ignite” (2009).
The album came out back in 2009, and I would argue that it set the stage for the incredible success the band saw with 2012’s “Some Nights” and has experienced since.
My sophomore year of high school I went to see Jack’s Mannequin at the Electric Factory — a converted factory made of brick and entirely enclosed in barbed wire that’s become a staple of the Philadelphia music scene.
The band was one of two openers, to which I would generally expect to give a fair listen and some decent applause while waiting almost-patiently for the headliner to start. As soon as fun. started, though, I was hooked. I went home and ordered the CD on Amazon (yes, I know, I still buy physical CDs, I’m weird), and then downloaded their top three songs from iTunes because I couldn’t wait to listen to them and Spotify hadn’t reached the masses yet.
There are few albums I can listen to again and again without getting bored of the music or sick of the lyrics I memorized ages ago, but this is one of them. If you don’t believe me just know that my mom has had this CD in her car for more than five years now and the drive from Philadelphia to Hanover is nearly seven hours long.
Without further ado (read: babbling), here are a few of my favorite tracks from the album:
“All the Pretty Girls”
This song uses the contrast of upbeat melody with much-less-happy lyrical storyline technique à la Death Cab for Cutie. This is my favorite verse without a doubt:
So I call you out
Just to feel a little bit better about myself
I do, baby I do, I do, I do
Until their lips start to move
And your friends talk music
I’ll say I never heard the tune
But I have
I just hate the band cause they remind me of you
The lyrics hit the band-tied-irrevocably-to-an-ex-love situation oh so perfectly. Check out the music video here.
“Barlights”
The opening of this song puts you right on the sidewalk on a Saturday night and immediately hooks you in with the opening verse:
Never in all my life
Have I seen eyes as empty as the streets of my city
On a Saturday night
The green of your eyes say go — leave it all behind
There is definitely some inherent bias on my part in terms of these lyrics. Songs about green eyes rarely make an appearance, in the world of “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Behind These Hazel Eyes.” But aside from Nate Ruess’ unfailingly enchanting lyrics, the beat of this song will have you tapping your left foot while your right foot is on the gas and the windows are down on a summer evening.
“The Gambler”
“The Gambler” is my favorite song of all time and thus my favorite song on the album. I hesitate to write anything about it at all and instead simply insist that you listen to it. I’ll keep it brief. The song has no chorus and weaves a beautiful love story from start to end with lines like “I swear when I grow up I won’t just buy you a rose; I will buy the flower shop and you will never be lonely.” Nate Ruess wrote the song about his parents and references both himself and his sister in what I believe to be the most poetic verse of the song. Check out a live version here.