The paradox at the heart of I Like Fun <\/i>is that the Brooklyn duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell stay true to their quirky upbeat pop while addressing more sombre subject matter than usual. They say it\u2019s an album rooted in \u201cdread, death and disappointment\u201d, they\u2019re not kidding; the opening Let\u2019s Get This Over With is tantamount to a glee club suicide note.<\/p>\n
Call it irony or satire (always handy defences to hide behind), what\u2019s on offer here is a catalogue of woes couched in melodic jollity, most notably railing against the Trump administration\u2019s dismissal of considered journalism on the rocky An Insult To The Fact Checkers. And while there\u2019s no doubting the sincerity of their concerns about global warming, the message is perhaps a little too on the nose with By The Time You Get This (\u201c\u2026we\u2019ll no longer be alive\u201d).<\/p>\n
Sonically, it boasts richer textures than recent albums, thanks largely to the pair\u2019s expanded touring line-up playing a greater role in the studio; a more fleshed-out sound than the occasionally irritating minimalism of yore. Arguably, the decision to beef up the instrumentation is designed to bring heft to the lyrics\u2019 serious topics, even though the band are, as ever, likely to be preaching to the choir.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The paradox at the heart of I Like Fun is that the Brooklyn duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell stay true to their quirky upbeat pop while addressing more sombre subject matter than usual. They say it\u2019s an album rooted in \u201cdread, death and disappointment\u201d, they\u2019re not kidding; the opening Let\u2019s Get This Over With is tantamount to a gl\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8023,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[],"issue":[10093],"class_list":["post-193461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album","category-reviews","issue-january-2018"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n