"I remember hearing and seeing Sunny Day Real Estate when they released Diary and seeing the video for In Circles on 120 minutes every Sunday night on MTV. I loved the song but was skeptical about the band for a while. I remember seeing several musicians later on telling how much they loved Jeremy Enigk's first solo album Return Of The Frog Queen and seeing it on a bunch of lists for the best albums of 1996. I decided to give it a try and when I listened to it I was hooked and then I became a huge fan of Sunny Day Real Estate and saw them when they toured for How It Feels To Be Something On and they were amazing and his voice is as good live as it is recorded. If you are looking for a redux of Return Of The Frog Queen then this is not for you. Jeremy continues in the direction that he has been going in the past few years as he has been with Sunny Day and The Fire Theft. It is heavily influenced by progressive but it is very majestic and very uplifting. There is not a weak song on here. A New Beginning is definitely what he seems to be trying to say and prove on this album and he is still the one with that magical voice. Yes, he is the man who helped launch the bands who profess their elegance to emo and rule MTV and the teen magazines but what some of these bands don't seem to get is that it is more about the music than it is about what you are wearing and who you are seen with and how you present yourself. Listen up Pete Wentz and Panic! At The Disco."
Beautiful
Ilya Petushkov | 12/05/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There has been a change in Enigk's music since he was in Sunny Day Real Estate, his first solo release, through The Fire Theft and his current release. You can really see the change in his life paralleled with the change in his music. Going from the angst ridden, dark, brooding sounds of SDRE, to the mystical and middle age-sounding first solo release, to a breakthrough about his personal convictions that is heard in the late SDRE and The Fire Theft. Jeremy has moved from someone who was lost and searching to someone who had found the way (yet still struggling with the truth)and finally into someone who is able to express the healing and joy he is experiencing through his music, sharing this gift with all his listeners. World Waits is beautiful, and it will lift your heart, Enigk's placid voice will guide you through his personal convictions to the dawn of the joy he has been experiencing in the past few years of his life."
A great surprise
Tom Johnson | Always here, sometimes there | 01/08/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I didn't expect that much from Enigk's second solo album and it wound up pretty much blowing me away. If you're familiar with Sunny Day Real Estate, you already know what to expect - I'm loathe to apply the term "emo" but SDRE was at the heart of the genre before it become corrupted by what it's become today, but this really is emotional rock, full of heartfelt declarations and grandiose movements. However, there are moments on this album that approach prog-rock excesses and for that I'm appreciative - Enigk clearly allowed his muse to take him where he needed to go and the end result is one of 2006's most beautiful rock albums. Don't miss it."
A totally different dimension of singer-songwriters
Christopher Ruble | Fort Wayne, IN | 11/21/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"For the most part, there are only two types of singer-songwriters: ones who are good at songwriting but lack true vocal brilliance, and ones who have good vocals but write songs so bad that they make my second grade writing look like the greatest novel ever written. Jeremy Enigk is really in a category all his own. His lyrics are among the best out there, and his vocals are possible the best I've ever heard. He has so much range and voice variation that it sounds like 20 different people are singing on this album, and all have the best voices in the business. Meanwhile, his melodies are so good they leave you humming the songs for days, kind of pissing you off a bit b/c his voice is so much better than yours. I love Sunny Day Real Estate, but I think this might be his masterpiece. I don't know if the songs are better overall, but the songs are amazing and he does the best vocal work of his life. I think I would almost have to give this album a 5 just based on the song "World Waits," which is arguably the most beautiful song I've ever heard. I didn't think he would be able to top Sunny Day Real Estate's "How It Feels To Be Something On," which was my personal fav. from the band, but this album has so much to offer that it's hard not to fall madly in love with it.
Even if you have never heard anything from Enigk, buy this album and I promise you will not be sorry. After just listening to a couple of tracks, his voice will become your new friend; this album is very inviting, and while having the soul of his other albums, this one may have a more optimistic sound because I sense more confidence in his voice, and I felt like nothing was forced, almost like he made it seemed easy, which is good, b/c maybe he'll start pumping out albums on a more regular basis, which would be very nice."