Bands come and bands go. In an ever-changing music world, the only constant is change. Trends blow up and die down, stars are born and flicker back into the blackness they emerged from just as quickly. Case in point, The Early November: the band put out The Mother, The Mechanic, The Path, an ambitious, triple-disc effort that shook the emo scene upon its release, and yet their light flickered afterwards. Sure, the band's members continued on making music (Joe Marro joined Hellogoodbye, and Ace Enders released music under his own name and his ex-side project, I can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business), but the unfinished business of The Early November defined the band's indefinite hiatus for years. Now, armed with the backing of Rise Records and a bit of that youthful ambition they always had, The Early November is back, and they've never sounded better.
The Early November's new album In Currents, begins with "A Stain on the Carpet," a slower song that finds the band easing themselves back into form. The songs is lead by Enders's signature croon, and begins to build into a soaring chorus, and it becomes evident that the band didn't reunite simply for nostalgia's sake. They've got a few things left to say, and they found some great ways to say them. "Frayed In Doubt" brings back Enders's yells and bellows, and moves much quicker than "A Stain in the Carpet," and the two bring about a great contrast to start the album. The two tracks are overshadowed, however, by the album's third and best track, who shares its name with the album. "In Currents" (the song) features the best chorus on In Currents (the album), and possibly the band's career. Enders powers the song with his patented emotional delivery, and through just three songs, he's turned in one of the best vocal performances of the year.
If The Mother, The Mechanic, The Path taught the world anything about The Early November, it's that the band is never afraid to spread its creative wings and soar above any other band they're put in the same sentence with. In Currents continues that trend even though The Early November went roughly six years between Currents and Mother/Mechanic/Path. In short, there's something on this album for everyone. The acoustic-driven "Digital Age" finds the band combating the overproduced muck music's become riddled with these days, while "Close to You" is a driving, aggressive track that shows off the edge the band still has, and features excellent drumming from Jeff Kummer.
What is perhaps the best part of In Currents is its versatility. Through your first listen of the album, it is nearly impossible to predict what the band will do next, and the last few tracks are a perfect example of that. From a raucous, rock-n-roll number ("Guilt and Swell") to a moody acoustic track ("That's Not Your Real Name"), to the two tracks that will address the band's reunion best, "Like a Kid" (where Enders proclaims "I feel like a kid again" in the chorus) and "The Smell of This Place," which feels like a song lamenting lost love, but still looking back on those memories fondly, with Enders crooning "It's all been worth it, yeah, it's all be worth it" to trail the song out. Whether he's singing about the band's breakup or the end of one of his own relationships isn't so clear, but it doesn't really matter. Regardless of what they mean exactly, The Early November make their point a well-argued one throughout.
After the one-two punch of "Wearing the Tie" and "Call of the Bells" draw the album to a close, there's something about the title track of In Currents that stands out as the album's calling card. "Life is an ocean, and it flows like this so you get what you ask for," Enders explains in the chorus. And it's true, after all. Life is an ocean of emotions, and the ebbs and flows of good times and bad make us who we are. Though The Early November's reunion seemed impossible for a few years, In Currents provides physical proof that you never do know where life's currents will take you. And an album that teaches you life lessons is an album well-made.
The Bottom Line: Just like Yellowcard did last year with When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes, The Early November have come back from their hiatus to create some of the best songs of their career. They may have been overlooked a little before their hiatus, but there's no excuse for missing out on The Early November now.
Recommended if you rock: Yellowcard's When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes, Taking Back Sunday's Taking Back Sunday, The Starting Line's Direction
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