Musical Musings

I know I’m pretty late on this, but The Format’s Dog Problems is a record everyone should hear. I’ve been listening to Fun for a while now and always assumed that frontman Nate Ruess’s old band would be all indie-pop, no over-the-top-instrumentation, but boy was I wrong. On this record more than Fun’s 2009 debut Aim and Ignite, the band makes much better use of grand instrumentation to function for more than just, well, fun. On the surface, Dog Problems might sound like a bunch of upbeat pop songs, but beneath that is a crushing album about a devastating breakup. Try this: listen to the title track above, then read the lyrics. Or the reverse order, you’ll be just as surprised.