Some Nights

Some Nights could be the breakthrough album that propels Fun. to the arenas where their lack of self-restraint will finally make sense.

You can find Queen and Kanye West bursting out of Some Nights's sweeping chords and harmonies - and you don't even have to listen all that hard - but when all ten tracks are delivered with this much conviction it hardly seems relevant.

Ruess is not a young man hampered by subtleties, and sounds weirdly gleeful on songs that deal with betrayal, loneliness and his mother's death. Such boundless enthusiasm could be teeth-grating even without Stars' overuse of Auto-Tune, but it's hard to dislike such catchy tunes and lyrics that are funny, sincere and oddly moving.

Some Nights, with its combination of record-collector bravado and lyrical vulnerability, is a study in that sort of contrast: Its slightly peculiar over-reliance on technology only makes it more human, more lovable, and more rock and roll.

In “We Are Young”, and 10 other rollickingly catchy songs, Ruess’ knack for the anthemic is matched by Gen-Y humor – emo self-deprecation that leavens the bombast.

Although it begins primed to take on indie greatness, Some Nights' second half falters.

Against all odds, ‘Some Nights’ is a hoot: huge-sounding, packed with tunes and not lacking in humour.

This quickly becomes the stuff of a thousand, middling US soft-rockers and when they're not whining like Maroon 5, they're whining like Blink-182.

In spite of its significant mainstream, middle school-girl appeal, it’s doubtful that Nate Ruess made any artistic compromises during the recording of Some Nights.

Replete with tacky production and recycled ideas, its few merits are stretched to near breaking point.

Trading in clever, orchestrated pop rock for hollow, overproduced stadium romps, fun. swing big and miss the point almost entirely on Some Nights