I recently moved back home to the town where I grew up. In a lot of ways, it has been a positive move for me. I have the job I've been holding out for the last few years, I'm much closer to family and friends, and I'm living much closer to signs of civilization. One thing has been bothering me, though. When I was back living near Madison, I had access to some fantastic radio. One station in particular went out of its way not only to feature new music that is otherwise overlooked by the commercial music industry, but also to keep listeners from forgetting great songs that are more than two or three years old. Milwaukee radio, on the other hand, is in a pretty sad shape. There's plenty of commercial hard rock, top 40 pop, watered down hip-hop, and safe, repetitive classic rock. It seems that no stations near me are willing to play a song unless its already been proved commercially viable. No one wants to take a musical risk. Since I thrive on that unproven musical frontier, I've been feeling a little bit lost lately.

Fortunately, I'm not at a complete loss. One of my first ventures after moving was a trip to one of the local independent record stores, where I noticed a copy of Room for Squares, which a friend had recommended in passing a short time ago. I needed something to see me through my bleak radio prospects, and, since I put a lot of stock into this friend's musical advice. Needless to say, I wish I had found a copy sooner.

Room for Squares is the major label debut of Atlanta-based singer/songwriter John Mayer. At the heart of the album's music is a solid core of folk rock with a thin sheen of electronic instrumentation. A preliminary listen will easily draw comparisons to other acts such as the Wallflowers or Counting Crows. A few more spins through the CD player and you'll start to notice some of the more subtle styles that Mayer throws into the mix, most noticeably jazz and blues. The resulting combination is a light, refreshing break from commercial radio. If I had to pick a better know artist to help characterize Mayer's sound, I'd have to say that he sounds somewhat like fellow Atlanta rocker Shawn Mullins if you removed the spoken portions of Mullins' songs.

As the album's title suggests, the songs contained herein are aimed at the kinds of people who seem constantly to evade being labeled as 'cool.' (On a quick side note, the artwork on the disk itself features the periodic table of elements, eternal symbol of high school geeks worldwide.) The opening song, No Such Thing, goes so far as to evoke an outpouring of memories from my time as one of those 'uncool' kids back in high school. Lyrics such as "I never lived the dreams of the prom kings/ And the drama queens" and "Grabbing transfers, maybe credits/ They read all the books but they can't/ Find the answers" summed up my life pretty well. Not that these memories are painful, mind you. Rather, the song is a celebration of the independence and outsider-ness that I and my friends went through in our formative years. Another memorable tribute to the naïveté and innocence of school-age years is 83, in which Mayer wistfully expresses his desire to return to his first-grade days back in 1983.

Other memorable songs capture different themes of adolescent awkwardness. Why Georgia embodies a sense of uncertainly about life that everyone feels at some point or another. Lyrics include lines such as "4 more exits to my apartment but/ I'm tempted to keep the car in drive/ And leave it all behind" and the repeated chorus of "Am I living it right?" The loud, raucous Love Song for No One sends out a passionate plea for someone, anyone to share in the singer's life. As Mayer sings in this song, "Searching all my days just to find you/ I'm not sure who I'm looking for/I'll know it/ When I see you." Great Indoors begins by quietly singing the praises of staying home alone, but quickly shifts to a plea to "go unlock the door/ And find what you are here for." One last song to mention for now, Your Body Is a Wonderland, is perhaps one of the sexiest folk-rock songs I've heard in quite some time.

Musically, Room for Squares offers fine examples of modern folk rock. Most songs feature a foundation of intricate acoustic guitars mixed with electric guitar highlights, and skilled guitar and bass accompaniments that never overpower the featured guitar work or Mayer's breathy, baritone vocals. Most songs stick to this formula, but a handful manage to break the mold and preserve a sense of variety. Neon offers funky grooves that invoke the feel of such contemporary jazz groups as the Rippingtons. City Love offers the same feel as the slow, bluesy songs of past guitar masters Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix. Several other brief moments throughout the album sound like they would fit in nicely with the jazz-rock sounds of Steely Dan and Donald Fagen's solo work. The album certainly never allows itself to fall into a rut.

Producer John Alagia seems to have had a significant impact of the sound of Mayer's album. Alagia has previously worked with such bands as the Dave Matthews Band and Ben Folds Five. It would be far from unfair to draw comparisons between John Mayer and those other acts. Fans of the aforementioned groups would do well to pick up Room for Squares if they're looking for something new to fill out their music collections.

It seems important to note that multiple versions of this album seem to be available at the moment. One version, released early in the summer of 2001 on Aware records, features only 12 tracks. A later release this year by Columbia working in conjunction with Aware, adds one extra track, and (for now at least) is being sold with a bonus disk that includes live acoustic recordings of Stevie Ray Vaughan's Lenny and Jimi Hendrix's The Wind Cries Mary. Apart from providing excellent live recordings, the bonus disk helps to showcase some of Mayer's influences.

Search for the newer version (which features color on the cover as opposed to black and white pictures) if possible. However, regardless of which version is available, anyone who has lived the quiet life of one of the uncool kids will feel at home with John Mayer. It's certainly helping me adjust to life back home.


Recommended: Yes