John Mayer’s Room For Squares ranks as one of my most fortunate musical finds; Mayer opened for former Toad The Wet Sprocket frontman Glen Phillips on a recent acoustic tour, and shortly after Philadelphia radio station WXPN started rather heavy airplay of the album’s first single, “No Such Thing”. I eventually decided to buy the CD, and now I’m hooked. The guitar line and percussion do a great job carrying the basic melodies, whether they’re slower, somewhat dreamy tunes like “Your Body Is a Wonderland” and “City Love” or more energetic songs such as “Love Song For No One” and “No Such Thing”. Meyer then builds around those melodies with organs, pianos, violins and other instrumentation to create a sound that’s very light but still rich enough to engage the listener. He can use a few notes to perfectly capture a particular emotion, and let that emotion color the rest of the song. “3×5” is a song about a traveler whose experiences reconnect him to the world, and the simple fragment that connects the verses seems to sum up the gravity of such a moment.
Meyer’s lyrics may be even more accomplished than the music. He has a sense of humor about himself and the world that doesn’t prevent him from being emotionally honest and insightful; at his best, he combines the two sides. “83”‘s nostalgia is summed up in the closing “whatever happened to my lunchbox / when came the day that it got thrown away / and don’t you think I should have had some say / in that decision?” And I don’t think anyone could come up with a better follow-your-heart exhortation than “No Such Thing”, where he says, “I want to scream at the top of my lungs/I just found out there’s no such thing as the real world/Just a lie you’ve 
got to rise above.” (Meyer delivers the phrase “at the top of my lungs” in a high-pitched call that somehow sounds good while still inspiring the tone-deaf among us to sing along in delight.) Direct and witty at the same time, Room For Squares is an outstanding example of intelligent songwriting, and I can only hope it finds the audience it deserves.
- No Such Thing (3:51)
- Why Georgia (4:28)
- My Stupid Mouth (3:45)
- Your Body Is A Wonderland (4:09)
- Neon (4:22)
- City Love (4:00)
- 83 (4:50)
- 3×5 (4:50)
- Love Song For No One (3:21)
- Back To You (4:01)
- Great Indoors (3:36)
- Not Myself (3:40)
- St. Patrick’s Day (5:21)
Released by: Columbia
Release date: 2001
Total running time: 54:21
