Nate Reuss’ Romantic Gesture

The launch of Grand Romantic has brought Nate Reuss to the pinnacle of many a band member’s careers: going solo. After being mostly associated with FUN and his former band The Format, Nate ventures on his own with Grand Romantic, an album with 12 tracks of Nate’s signature grandiose and cinematic lyric-style.While he has stated in an interview prior to the release of the album that he wanted to disassociate from his past works, the signature Nate sound is still evident. On the other hand, the listener knows that there is something different: Nate managed to give Grand Romantic its own identity by offering different emotions, stories, arrangements and melodies that put a new hue to his work.

STORY TIME

Nate is known for his out-of-this-world abstract storytelling, not only through his songs but also in the albums themselves. Grand Romantic has a story that’s worth a million buckets of tears, not only from the songs but also from how Nate got the inspiration for the tracks. Admittedly his most personal work to date, Nate recounted with Rolling Stone Magazine that the inspiration from Grand Romantic stems from his personal experience. Listening to the album confirms this: you could absolutely feel the dark grey color of emotion mixed with a deep romantic tone. This album also shares the irony of life, which Nate has described as unpredictable, sharp, and imperfect, but at the same time, beautiful. And speaking of irony, all these emotions came from the time that he was at the peak of his career, just as his song Some Nights became a billboard hit.

THE TRACKLIST
His cinematic and dramatic tone is said to be overrated, but it is precisely these characteristics that bring life to Grand Romantic’s beautiful somber mood. That and the hidden messages of the arrangement in its tracks. The opening song “AhHa,” which has been dubbed as an emotional monster and believed to be the evil twin of the peppy “Some Nights,” would make you feel as if you’re transcending through the past and present, most especially when it goes:

Oh, it’s for the best you didn’t listen

It’s for the best we get our distance(oh-oh woah oh) It’s for the best you didn’t listen

It’s for the best we get our distance.

As the introductory track of the album, it served as an epilogue to “Some Nights.” At the same time, it doubles as a prequel to Nate’s new songs, with “Nothing without Love” as launching board to the adventure that is the Grand Romantic. Unlike AhHa, Nothing Without Loves blends with the album’s lyrics and story and shows you a contrast to Nate’s past work. Music legends like Jeff Tweedy also lend their talents to Nate’s new album in the form of his amazing one-minute guitar solo on “Take It Back.” Five-time Grammy award winning recording artist Beck also becomes a part of “What this World is coming to”. Also, expect Nate to bring you something fresh, like Soul and a little bit of Country, a fair distance from his usual pop hits.

Grand Romantic contains 100% sincerity, a high-definition jigsaw puzzle of songs which could be the perfect playlist for a gloomy afternoon.

Here’s the link to the full feature article that was originally published in Uno Magazine’s June issue : PublishedReview