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Ace Enders and a Million Different People - When I Hit the Ground

Rating

RIYL

The Early November
The Get-Up Kids
Saves the Day

Release Date

03/17/2009

Label

Vagrant Records

Tracklist

1. Reintroduction
2. Take the Money and Run
3. New Guitar
4. Only Thing I Have (The Sign)
5. When I Hit the Ground
6. Reaction
7. Sweeter Light
8. SOS
9. Over This
10. Where Do We Go from Here
11. Emergency
12. Leader
13. Bring Back Love
14. Can't Run Away

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Recent Ratings
Lefty	Chris Conlan
Bill Lohr

When The Early November split up, a lot of hearts split as well. To soften the blow, vocalist Ace Enders made it clear that he was going to continue to make music. This came in the form of Ace Enders and a Million Different People, which is essentially a solo project with a backing band. Their second release and Ace's third solo album, When I Hit the Ground, is an incredible leap in maturity and scale. A leap of this nature is very common with musicians, but the big difference is that Enders has completely nailed it and released an incredible album.

Right from the beginning it becomes clear that When I Hit the Ground is meant to be an important release for Enders. Though it isn't experimental by any means, it's conventionality is a risk in and of itself. A lot of common ground is traversed over the course of the album, which isn't always a bad thing so long as it's done well. The common, arguably cliched, tone of the album in no way hinders the musical content. In fact, it strengthens it. Ace has done some experimenting through his project I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody's Business and The Early November's triple-disk release, but it's become clear that Ace is at his best when he's creating straight-up rock-pop.

When I Hit the Ground, which clocks in at just a bit under an hour, is an incredibly cohesive and weighty album. Most of the tracks fit together perfectly, and there's never the feeling that any of it is just being used as filler. The listener deserves as much, given the lengthy delay of the album, but it's still a really nice thing to see. Some tracks stand above others, such as "SOS", "The Only Thing I Have", and the rerecorded "Reaction", but the rest of the tracks, for the most part, are strong enough to not become shadowed. "Emergency" and "New Guitar" are simple acoustic tracks that offset the tone of the album, but that certainly isn't to say they're bad tracks. They're excellent for what they are, but they sound a tad out of place with the rest of the album.

Ace Enders fans may approach this album with weariness given the lukewarm reception of his last release, The Secret Wars. For that reason, this album will probably succeed even more. Their weariness will be rewarded with an excellent album that any Ace fan will be hard pressed not to enjoy. If you aren't already a fan of soft rock, this release probably won't change that. But for the rest of us it's an excellent release that was worth waiting for.

--Dant Rambo