The Early November The Room's Too Cold (2003) Drive Thru

Taken for what it is, The Early November's first long player isn't all that bad, but for the life of me, I just can't understand everyone's infatuation with acoustic songs. Sure, songs like the album's opener "Ever So Sweet" and "Dinner At The Money Table" are pretty and all that, but putting them together with the rest of this album accomplishes nothing more than smothering any momentum that the rest of the songs built. "Something That Produces Results" comes out of nowhere, and has a fantastic breakdown that really gets the listener excited for the rest of the album. "The Mountain Range In My Living Room" is interesting enough, but is immediately followed by three songs that are bland in comparison to the songs before them. After the next acoustic song, I forgot what I was listening to.

Several of these songs, particularly "Baby Blue" and "Fluxy", make the album even more frustrating, as certain parts almost grab you, but then lack the real punch to become memorable. Lead vocalist Arthur Enders has a very good voice, and almost saves some of the tracks, but the meloldies are often too similar to each other to become a real force. The production quality, as larger record label albums tend to be these days, is very good, but the inconsistent songwriting really keeps this album from being anything incredibly special.

Again, this is not a bad album, and I encourage you all to listen to some songs, especially "Something That Produces Results", which suggests that maybe this band is capable of something more. An all-acoustic album is in the works in the next couple of months, and maybe some of this album should have waited for that instead.

(TheMarc)