Bringing Back Love

Need a new cute musician to fall in love with? (When don't we?) Now is the perfect time to check out the ah-dorable Ace Enders, who totally stole my heart and Facebook profile picture when I saw him open for Hellogoodbye last November.

I was pretty excited that Ace would be playing at another sketchy Baltimore club this April, opening for Craig Owens, but alas, that show has been canceled. But, when a door closes, a window of beautiful sunlight opens: that date was canceled because it conflicted with Ace's tour with The All-American Rejects (<3333)!!!!! style="font-style: italic;">two shows, one at Towson University in, duh, Towson, on Saturday, April 25th, and another at the 9:30 Club in DC on Tuesday, April 28th. Of course, April 25th is also when Fall Out Boy and the rest of the Fueled by Ramen gang comes to the Merriwether Post Pavilion, so you might have to make some tough decisions about who your fave pop-punks are... But even if you don't get to see Ace in concert, you can still snag his autograph if you pre-order his new album When I Hit the Ground, which is going to hit stores this Tuesday 3/17. But that still gives you 29 hours to pre-order it from Newbury Comics and receive a free autographed CD booklet! I pre-ordered Cash Cash's fabulous album from them a few months ago, and they ship really quickly but might have led to a slight increase in the spam levels of my inbox.

Or, for an additional $3, you can pre-order it from Vagrant Records and get a t-shirt. I personally am quite conflicted. I already bought a "Bring Back Love" tee when I saw him in concert and got my picture taken with him, but I didn't get an autograph or this specific shirt... Decisions, decisions...

Oh, and as for the album itself, I can't find the free stream of it that he claims is on his MySpace page, but then again, I just can't really work MySpace's new music players. Why do social networking sites feel the constant need to change themselves?

Anyways, I can figure out how to listen to "The Only Thing I Have (The Sign)," "When I Hit the Ground," and a new rock version of "Bring Back Love," and I am loving all of them. They're more guitar-driven than Ace's last album, The Secret Wars, which you can still download for free at Fuse.tv. These tracks are a lot closer to the rock sound he had on the Hellogoobye BBQ tour. I am super-psyched for the rock version of "Bring Back Love." I'm still crazy about the piano version on The Secret Wars, but I fell in love with it as a rock song, and I've been wishing Ace would record a live version from one of his concerts.

But old fans, don't worry about this talk of rock n roll - Ace's voice is still as smooth and sweet as maple syrup. If these tracks are representative of the album as a whole, When I Hit the Ground will definitely be playing tug-of-war with your heartstrings.

The Album Project has a review of the full album here, and they "can’t think of anyone who wouldn’t fall in love with this music." So get ready - Ace is going to back back love again.