Review Summary: Superb Acoustic EP, a great reminder of the band's acoustic roots and excellent songwriting ability.
If
Chris Carrabba dropped his faux “I had no date for my high school prom” emotion and gained some songwriting ability that appealed to more than an audience of teen girls it would probably sound something like the
Acoustic EP by
The Early November. Although an alternative rock band by trade, their music has always had a “written on an acoustic” feel to it and it must come as no surprise that their newer material, on The Mother section of their triple album, features a lot of acoustic material. This album served two purposes for the band; firstly it provided a stop gap release between the
For All of This EP and the band’s first full length
The Room’s Too Cold. Secondly it showcases the more delicate and melodic side of the band who are actually quite aggressive for a Drive Thru Records band.
The Acoustic EP was recorded solely by the bands front man of considerable talents, Ace Enders and features acoustic versions of songs from
From All of This and
The Rooms too Cold as well as an unreleased track.
The EP itself is dominated by two types of songs, both pretty different from each other. There are the songs which are clearly meant to be distorted but are being played on an acoustic and there are there are the songs that feel like genuine acoustic songs. Fortunately the album is a pretty much even split between the two varieties and I’ve always been a fan of hearing bands play there classics minus electricity, just look at the success of
MTV’s Unplugged. Of course some songs weren’t really meant to be played without distortion and despite the best efforts of Mr Ace Enders, there is only so far you can force a song to be something its not.
Take
I Want To Hear You Sad, it’s a fabulous rock tune, which relies heavily on the quiet loud dynamic between verse and chorus but of course when acoustic all he has to boost the energy is his voice and guitar, it kind of works and he just about pulls it off but the whole song leaves me wanting to hear the electric version to remind myself how it should be done. In all credit to Ace though, his voice, while a bit of an acquired taste, is excellent throughout. In a similar vein is
Every Night’s Another Story, my favourite Early November song by a mile and although I love the novelty of hearing it acoustic it was meant to be played on an electric guitar. However the song features a lot more lead work and guitar intricacy than
I Want To Hear You Sad and it works far more effectively, partly because it’s a bloody good song and also because Ace seems to have put in some work in adjusting one of the bands heaviest songs to an acoustic setting. A somewhat weaker track on
From All of This,
All We Ever Needed takes on a new life on this EP. The verses are simply beautiful with Ace singing in a deep, melodic tone on top of a picked guitar riff, the song builds up and up into the cathartic chorus with some excellent harmonising. The song has grown and grown on me, the more I listen to it the better it seems to get, I guess because it’s a slower song than the previous two but it just works so well acoustically making the electric version sound inferior.
Now onto the songs which actually were meant to be played acoustic,
Ever So Sweet, Opens up this EP as it opens up their full length and my god is it a good song. Music like this works best listened to in the dark with no other distractions, its not a complex song by any means, just an emotional young man strumming his guitar and singing excellent lines such as, “I just found a friend, in one of your lies, to treat me so nice, I can't believe my bones, when they say so many things, they tell me I am fine, believe me I, I try.” Lyrically Ace reminds me of Jim Adkins form
Jimmy Eat World in that it’s not overly poetic but it has a charming honesty about which I’ve always found very endearing in both bands. The song has quiet and loud in abundance without sounding particularly formulaic.
Sunday Drive is equally a classic TEN song. Somewhat of a fan favorite, it’s one of those songs which starts out with calm withheld vocals and just gets more and more emotional and energetic. A reasonable comparison would be
The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most by
Dashboard Confessional. As always it’s a song about relationships, a theme common for almost every TEN song but delivered with far more subtlety and poise than most.
Come Back and
Make It Happen are valiant efforts even if they don’t stand out particularly amongst a sea of stronger material.
Too often are this band forgotten and cast aside, when they are surely one of the most underrated in their field. They have straight up alternative rock on their first two albums, a three disk concept effort which draws influence from metal, punk, rock, folk and country and this, a brilliant little
Acoustic EP, not just in my opinion for the avid fan but equally a great introduction to the roots of the band. It features some beautiful moments and although I must admit being guilty of not listening to it all too often I think that might just be about to change.
