Fun.

Nate Ruess, Andrew Dost and Jack Antonoff came together after work in separate bands, including the Format, Anathallo and Steel Train. Their different musical backgrounds gave the new group several kinds of experience at once. Aim and Ignite appeared in 2009, drawing on elaborate pop arranging while preserving the energy of a smaller independent band.

Be Calm opens the album with a series of changes that make its title sound more like a request than a description. All the Pretty Girls and The Gambler reveal different parts of the writing, from an immediate group hook to a more sustained narrative. Ruess' voice gives the arrangements a consistent centre, even when a song seems determined to change direction around him.

Some Nights arrived in 2012, produced by Jeff Bhasker. The partnership brought a stronger connection to contemporary programmed rhythm without removing the band's taste for theatrical vocals. We Are Young, featuring Janelle Monáe, became the breakthrough single, using a dramatic change of pace to turn a troubled evening into an enormous communal refrain.

The title track and Carry On gave the album other ways to reach a similar scale. Massed harmonies could sound triumphant, but the words often remained uneasy about identity, loyalty or what happens after the celebration. That disagreement is a substantial part of the music. Fun.'s biggest choruses can gather a crowd while the person leading them still seems to be working out what the moment means.