What started out as a one time side project for Ace Enders, during his tenure as the front man for The Early November, has resurfaced with the new album The World We Know.  The album was designed to be one long track and headphone friendly, however, with the current state of digital music, individual tracks are important to sales and therefore a song by song version is available.

Since last writing an album as I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business, Enders has been married and has also become a father.  The changes in his personal life have certainly commanded maturity and some of that growth shows on The World We Know.  Even so, he still doesn’t have the mature sound that some newer artists have already garnered.  What Enders does, however, he does well.  The album never sacrifices the integrity of the whole to make one hit song or one track that is clearly the motivation for the entire album.  Enders has crafted a delicate array of tracks that feel organic without being droll.  He manages to capture all the elements of a singer-songwriter album yet avoid being folksy.  With that all being said, Enders won’t be introducing you to anything new either.

The high points of The World We Know stand out because of the careful ebb and flow amongst the tracks.  Enders’ voice will make you his friend, confessing his emotions to you with little concern for having just met you.  As the track dissolves out, and the next one begins, you are reminded that Enders is through and through an alt-rock musician and the energy returns like fresh air blasting through a newly opened sunroof.  This is especially evident when he transitions out of Old Man………. into You’re Not so Good at Talking Anymore.  When you hear Enders belt out “I’m ready for my ending” the album is starting to hit its stride.  The unfortunate part of this is that the worst song on the album follows it making the denouement feel like you just tripped and fell down the stairs.

The most confusing part of this album is the difference between the two versions (one long track vs. song by song).  In the whole track version there is an extra six minutes of music at the end of the album, however, this extra music comes at a rather hefty price.  The logical concluding point on the album is the track Telling Me Goodbye.  Every time I listened to the one-track release and the album kept going it felt only like a hidden track, which to me, means his goal of creating a unified whole fails.  Telling Me Goodbye is such a gem and standout on this album that it is almost forgiving.  Several times I would scan back to the start of that track just to re-experience one of the best songs Enders has written whether in I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business, The Early November, or Ace Enders and a Million Different People.  The confession that takes place on this album is especially painful and appreciable all at once in this last track, and if you are only going to snag one track, this has to be the one.  Enders has matured for sure, but I think he has more in him and if this is only the introduction then I think we can all be thankful for that.  If it turns out to be his best effort then I think music lovers will wonder what could have been.  3 bees out of 5!