Van Hunt 2015
Introduction
Ever since his debut I follow Van Hunt’s career. A funk/soul artist who always did things his way and acted accordingly. That attitude didn’t make him a star, but it did provide us, the audience, with intensely beautiful albums like The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets. A look back.
Van Hunt
The story of Van Hunt is largely told in the previously published article Van Hunt debuts, which is particularly focused on Van Hunt’s debut album, which was released in 2004 and was titled Van Hunt.
The career overview (also part of that article) ends with the sentence “Using public funding site PledgeMusic the next album was financed and released in 2015: the genius The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.”
En route to The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.
Following the 2011 release of What Were You Hoping For?, Van Hunt announced his retirement from the music industry and shared his plans to only work behind the scenes from then on out. Luckily he changed his mind over the next months and realized that his artistry was inescapable.
Van Hunt – The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets. – PledgeMusic
Hunt pushed the boundaries of his DIY ethos even more and announced his intentions of financing his new album through crowd funding on August 27, 2014. The (now defunct) platform PledgeMusic was chosen where interested parties could donate money to the project. Every pledger would receive exclusive access to “behind-the scenes” images and information on the album’s creation. Of course several options were available, from vinyl to CD, with/without signatures, and several merchandise items like photos, posters and shirts.
Around the time his crowd funding action started Hunt said he had (re)discovered a number of great albums from his own music collection. The Delfonics, Parliament-Funkadelic, Pink Floyd and Billie Holiday provided ample inspiration. Artists outside the world of music, such as couturiers Hubert de Givenchy and Roy Halston added awe and wonder. This journey resulted in an album telling the tale of love, loss and nostalgia, on the sounds of old-school, yet original, funk and soul.
On March 10, 2025, the single Vega (stripes on) was released. That same day Hunt announced May 5, 2025, as the release date for the album. He also stated:
The drive to create something new and different is what keeps me excited and engaged as an artist. It’s the thrill of appearing with The Afghan Whigs at Coachella and then performing at a gospel quartet music special all in the same week. The excitement is in constantly evolving as an artist.
…
I took inspiration from components found in music from St. Vincent, James Blake, Dev Hynes, and fka Twigs for The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.
On the Van Hunt bandcamp site Hunt described his new album as “Delfonics meet Neil Young”.
Van Hunt – The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.
The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.
On the published date the fifth Van Hunt album The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets was released. The album is divided into two parts, which are announced by a female voice.
The first part of the album is themed The Fun Rises and focuses on sly funk, supplemented with psychedelic side-steps and neo-soul à la D’Angelo around the Voodoo release. The second half, The Fun Sets, is more laid back and is characterized by unique vocal and instrumental harmonies. Soul, ballads and rock all fight to be heard.
Review
As stated in the article on Van Hunt’s debut album, Van Hunt’s career just kept on evolving and the high music level kept on growing. The music changed with every release, musical themes were turned inside-out, yet the end result was always unmistakably Van Hunt music. An impressive feat.
The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets. is a one of a kind album in the history of (pop)music and is required listening for all who pride themselves of loving (black) music. Hunt created an entire world uniquely his own, where living is great. Highly recommended!
Van Hunt – The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets. – Singles
Singles
Tree singles/videos were culled from the album:
- Vega (stripes on)
(released on March 10, 2015) - Old Hat
(released on April 7, 2015) - Headroom
(released on April 21, 2015)
Van Hunt – The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets. – Back cover
Songs
All songs written by Van Hunt, unless stated otherwise.
- Vega (stripes on)
- Old Hat
- Pedestal
- Teach Me A New Language
- (let it) Soak (n)
- ….Puddin’ (George Gordon, Van Hunt)
- She Stays With Me
- Headroom
- French For Cloud (cstbu)
- Rub My Feet (suddenly)
- Emotional Criminal
- If I Wanna Dance With You
- A Woman Never Changes
- The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.
Musicians
- Van Hunt – vocals, all instruments, unless stated otherwise
- Jebin Bruni – keyboards, synthesizer
- Aaron Redfield, Brian McCleod, Ivan Edwards – drums
- Danny T. Levin – flugelhorn
- Caroline Buckman, Lauren Chipman – viola
- Daphne Chen, Eric Gorfain, Ina Veli, Kathleen Sloan – violin
- Richard Dodd – cello
Van Hunt – SWARF & TRIM
Na The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.
On December 16, 2015, Van Hunt released his next album, SWARF.
when i write, i often shave one song out of several song ideas. after completing my last album, ‘The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.’, i felt the left over material was strong enough to stand as a collection.
On the advice of a friend Van Hunt returned to his debut album with the intent of reinterpreting it. Hunt re-recorded the entire album and titled it TRIM (The Reimagined Van Hunt), which was released on April 1, 2019.
Revisiting these songs wasn’t the nostalgia trip one might imagine.
Fifteen years is not that long ago – and yet, at the pace we live our lives, many, many things have happened in that time. And those things forced me to look at the songs like an empty room after a toddler has left it. You can almost hear the child’s voice ringing in your ears.
There are things that have happened to me in the last 15 years that seem to make sense only when I look back and sing the words to my first record. It seems like they were written to explain the aftermath of what was to come.
Van Hunt kept on releasing albums and singles, unfortunately with ever diminishing success. These days Hunt is better known for his girlfriend, actress Halle Berry, than his music. And that’s a true shame. Van Hunt still is a unique artist, who follows his own path and only concerns himself with music he wants to create and release.
The next album to be released is A Heart Full Of Questions, currently scheduled for May 23, 2025.
In closing
What’s your take on Van Hunt and The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.? Let me know!
Video/Spotify
This story contains an accompanying video. Click on the following link to see it: Video: Van Hunt and the story of his irresistible album The Fun Rises, The Fun Sets.. The A Pop Life playlist on Spotify has been updated as well.
