In order to best communicate my thoughts about Jeremy Current’s debut EP, I’ll need to flash you back to the fall of 2005. My wife and I had been married for about a year. We had recently traveled from North Carolina to Kentucky and Tennessee to be with her family as they laid her grandfather to rest. Given that April’s dad had died when she was only ten, her gramps was more of a father figure than just a grandparent.

It was an emotional time and one that was amplified when we watched Cameron Crowe’s Elizabethtown. Now I know that this movie didn’t connect with everyone, but it sure did with us. The loss of a family member, a trip to reconnect with relatives back home, the long distance development of a romantic relationship, the setting in a quiet Kentucky town…it all hit home and now Elizabethtown is one of our favorites.

So why all this talk about personal history and a film that some considered a flop? Well, along with our connection to that movie, we absolutely love the soundtrack that accompanied it. It’s a fantastic mix of folk and Americana tunes from artists like Tom Petty, Ryan Adams, My Morning Jacket, Nancy Williams, Patty Griffin and Eastmountainsouth.

It has become a staple of our road trips and as soon as I heard House On Fire, Current’s music immediately felt right at home alongside such artists. This is the highest praise that I can give this EP, as it is somehow instantly as evocative as those tunes that we’ve come to know and love over the past four years. These five songs resonate with my soul in a similar fashion and that’s an impressive feat.

More than just a collection of songs, House On Fire traverses an entire range of emotions, from homesickness to the double-edged sword of love lost and found. There’s a world-weariness here that’s coupled with a quiet determination to keep pressing on. Musically, there’s beautiful instrumentation at work, with each piece of the puzzle subtlety complementing the next. Current’s voice hovers just above it all, somehow urgent, yet assured, all at once.

If anything, the EP left me wanting more from Current and his band. I suppose that’s a good problem to have when you release new music…so hopefully it won’t be too long before they have more goodness to share.