The Frankfort native and Traverse City resident’s latest musical project comes after Grammy Award-winning, platinum-selling success with indie-pop-rock’s fun. The Artist Spotlight and videos.

A ‘Pull’ To Be Back in Northern Michigan: Andrew Dost. (Courtesy Photo)
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It all started with fun.
Not just as in having a good time, but as in the band that was Michigan musician Andrew Dost’s first foray into the big time.
That’s the Grammy Award-winning band fun., which with its all-lower-case name and period at the end caused grammarians, writers and reviewers no end of headaches and frustration.
Speaking of fun — the feeling, not the band –- Dost definitely is enjoying his latest musical venture: Metal Bubble Trio, a project that owes its sound and even its existence to bossa nova.

Varied Influences: Dost on stage with Metal Bubble Trio. (Courtesy Photo)
That’s right, the Frankfort native and current Traverse City resident says the inspiration for the band — neither a metal band nor a trio — came from the variant of samba developed in Brazil in the 1950s, popularized by such seminal figures as João Gilberto, Antônio Carlos Jobim and American saxophonist Stan Getz.
“It started with bossa nova,” said Dost, while conceding that trying to fit all of his songs and approaches into that style could become a straitjacket. He also was afraid of becoming inauthentic, “like a costume. It opened a door, then became a crutch.”
So Dost opened his musical doors further to include not only bossa nova, but Americana, rock, folk and jazz, resulting in a hybrid he dubs “exotica lounge.”
Whatever the label, this is the guy who named his previous band for the word that literally means to have a good time. It’s clear from speaking with Dost that whatever its genesis, whatever its antecedents (touchstones such as Vince Guaraldi, Yusef Lateef, Pharaoh Sanders and Bill Evans), this new band, indeed, brings him joy.
Released earlier this month, Metal Bubble Trio’s debut recording, “Cucumber,” is now available on Apple and Amazon music, Spotify and other streaming services.
Dost and company will also celebrate release of the vinyl version during a Feb. 1 party hosted by Alluvion Arts at the Commongrounds Cooperative at 414 Eighth St. in Traverse City. The free show begins at 5 p.m. Saturday in the aviary and will include “cucumber-inspired food” and tunes by DJ Boogie Supreme. Details online here.
VIDEO: Metal Bubble Trio, “Love Please Don’t Be Long”
RETURNING TO NORTHERN MICHIGAN AND PROMOTING ‘CUCUMBER’
So what about the music? “Cucumber” is mostly downtempo, and by turns subdued, introspective, wacky and melodic. Sometimes all the above.

The Album: Available on vinyl on Feb. 1.
The song titles suggest this isn’t your typical Top 40 fare: “Love, Please Don’t Be Long,” “Instructions For Electric Kettle,” and of course, the title track. Often, vocals are nearly buried in the mix, or rendered nearly unintelligible with electronics (“99”). The overall vibe is somewhere between emo and indie, pop and lounge and bossa and, well, pretty much anything or almost everything else.
The title track, set to music akin to Hawaiian slack key guitar in outer space, revolves around the changes and losses people endure as life happens: “When I close my eyes, there’s nothing but darkness, I’ve wasted all this time getting free,” he sings.
Still, it’s clear Dost is happy to be home again. After graduating from Central Michigan University, he hit the road, proverbially and literally. He was part of the Mt. Pleasant indie-rock band Anathallo before teaming up with Jack Antonoff and Nate Ruess for fun., which recorded two studio albums, seven EPs and won two Grammy Awards.
The band sold more than nine million copies of its anthemic hit, “We Are Young,” which won “Song of the Year” at the 2013 Grammy Awards. The band also was named Best New Artist at that year’s Grammys. The second album, “Some Nights,” debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 Chart and received a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of more than one million units.
That’s nice, but Dost isn’t looking to revisit those days. Instead, he’s moving ahead at his own pace, with a band consisting of friends from around the area. “We hold band practices in my basement,” Dost said.
Metal Bubble Trio features a rotating cast of players in the studio and for live shows, though Dost conceded that trying to tour can pose challenges as middle-aged musicians.

Playing Live: Tough to tour but some performances will be on tap for 2025. (Courtesy Photo)
“It’s hard to tour,” he said, though Dost does aim to perform some live dates this year to promote the album.
As for fun., there’s no bad blood between band members, and Dost recently saw Antonoff. They just spun off in different directions, musically and geographically. When the pandemic hit at the same time his lease was up on his home out West, Dost decided to return to northern Michigan.
He purchased a home that previously belonged to his grandparents and great uncle. His parents live across the street, and his brother lives in Grand Rapids. “There was a pull,” he said.
Now, he’s back at it, in his own way and at his own speed.
VIDEO: Metal Bubble Trio, “Jeff”
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