Hammonton, NJ · emo · indie-rock

The Early November

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Jersey emo with a soft-focus streak — the band that once released a triple concept album and meant it, sincerity as a career-long dare.

The Early November formed in Hammonton, New Jersey, in 2001, built around singer and guitarist Ace Enders alongside drummer Jeff Kummer and bassist Sergio Anello. A demo recorded in Enders's basement was sent to a single label, Drive-Thru Records, which signed the band in 2002. Guitarists John Dubitsky and later Joseph Marro joined around the release of the EPs For All of This and The Acoustic EP.

Their music combines acoustic-leaning songwriting with rock arrangements and plainspoken, earnest lyrics, a style already evident on the 2003 debut album The Room's Too Cold, which topped the Billboard Heatseekers chart and reached number 107 on the Billboard 200.

In 2006 the band expanded to three guitarists with the addition of Bill Lugg and released The Mother, the Mechanic, and the Path, a three-disc album split across full-band, acoustic and spoken-word material. It became their highest-charting record at number 31 on the Billboard 200 but divided listeners, and the band announced an indefinite hiatus the following year.

The group reunited in 2011, signed to Rise Records, and released In Currents in 2012, which reached number 43 on the Billboard 200. Enders had continued writing and producing through the hiatus, including a solo record released under another name.

Later albums, Imbue in 2015 and Lilac in 2019, along with a self-titled record in 2024, leaned toward a more measured indie rock sound than the band's earlier work.

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emoindie-rock