The Promise Ring

In order to save themselves, emo figureheads the Promise Ring have slowed their roll.
Wood/Water, their first on Epitaph Records, is less blatantly melodic, peppy and cloying
than their three albums on scene-making label Jade Tree. The best moments here are two
wide-open sheafs of earnest guitar pop: "My Life Is at Home" and the spare "Half Year Sun,"
on which singer-songwriter Davey von Bohlen is lonely and rambling, self-doubti... More >