the Informer

The façade of timid singer/songwriter Ace Enders comes in many different disguises. The mastermind behind The Early November has been performing under the moniker Ace Enders and a Million Different people for the past few years, but with the recent release of “The World We Know,” yet another solo project is back on the map. Enders’ first and more famed side project, I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business, was formed while on a break from The Early November.

With the release of the its first self-titled album, Enders boasted his ability to shy away from the more electric feel of his former band by taking a less harsh acoustic route. I Can Make A Mess… was praised for it’s quiet, raw, yet gentle feel as Enders sang of life and love. So after a six year break while focusing on A Million Different People, Enders decided to return to the I Can Make a Mess alias, hurriedly recording and self-releasing “The World We Know” in just two-week’s time.

Luckily, the six-year wait proved to be completely worthwhile. The album stays true to style, bringing back similar soft melodies and guitar riffs, but Enders decided to get more creative this time around. The album is the first of what will soon be a trilogy. It is meant to be listened to as a whole, the 11 tracks from beginning to end telling a story of none other than the struggles of a relationship. Commencing with the track “Sleep Means Sleeping,” sluggish chords and a barely whispering voice slowly pick up to paint a picture of the affection for a girl who “helps me sleep at night.”

A similar sound continues throughout the next two tracks where Enders expresses the uncertainty in the relationship saying “I can’t decide if you’d like to be there too.” The sound shifts during “You’re Not So Good at Talking Anymore” with much stronger vocals backed by electric strumming and drums. The frustration and anger is piercing in Enders’ voice, singing “I don’t know where we went wrong…so don’t let me go.” Fitting together like a puzzle, the shift between the more upbeat tracks such as “Stop Smoking Because It’s Not Good for You” and the more dawdling “100 Dollar Bills,” reflect the emotion, perfecting Enders’ attempt to create a passionate love story.

The album ends with “Telling Me Goodbye,” which reflects a similar sound as the first track, bringing closure to the album as well as the relationship being described. Ending with the simple lyric “How am I going to let this go? Oh no,” Enders completes the story with the same feeling of ambiguity most young lovers can relate to at the end of a relationship.

Fortunately for cult followers of Enders and acoustic lovers alike, “Telling Me Goodbye” doesn’t mean we have to say our farewells just yet. The second installment of “The World We Know” is scheduled to be released in June, followed by the completion of the trilogy this coming winter. So if you weren’t lucky enough to snag the album when it was accidentally released on iTunes last week for just 99 cents, help the band out because “The World We Know” is definitely worth the $9.99 it is currently being sold at. In the meantime, be sure to keep your eyes open for the follow-up albums, or catch I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business at this year’s Warped Tour.