THE EARLY NOVEMBER + MARK ROSE (SPITALFIELD)

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After two decades, it would be all too easy for a band to just phone it in—capitalize on the fanbasethey’ve built up in thattime and just make a watered-down version of themselves.

Not for The EarlyNovember, however. Ever since forming in New Jersey in 2001, the band, now consisting of frontman AceEnders and founding drummer JeffKummer— have constantly been striving tofind the best and mostdefinitive version of themselves. With this self-titled record, the seventh studio album of their career, theduo have come as close as is possible to doing so.

It’s an album thatties the past, present and future alltogether, and as such, it marks what Enders calls a “period or exclamation point in our sentence”. It’s nota new beginning, per se, but nevertheless something emphatic that signifies, in Enders’ words again, “apivotal moment” for them both.

“The initial spark of this record was frustration,” he says. “Although we are growing in many ways and it’sa beautiful thing to be able to do what we do, it was born out of feeling like you’re doing the same thingover and over again, and out of this ‘I don’t care’ mentality. Not ‘I don’t care about the world’, but reallydigging deep artistically and having the view that if this is it, then I want The Early November tofinallyhave the album that’s good enough to be the self-titled album.

”“There have been so many highs and lows throughout the career of this band,” adds Kummer, “but it gotvery dark. And a lot of this record is coming out of that, but we’re still here with a collection of brandnew songs and it feels right. I feel more connected to where Ace’s mind is with this record than I everhave before.”Interestingly and ironically, that synergy sprang from a more negative place.

Because at atime when allthese nostalgic festivals, tours and events were springing up to celebrate the emo/punk/post-hardcorescenes that The Early November had been a part of/associated with, the band were either ignored oroverlooked. But rather than succumb to feelings of defeatism or inadequacy, resignation ordisappointment, Enders and Kummer instead used it as inspiration.