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The Promise Ring | Wood/Water

A solid album of acoustic indie-rock.
CD, Anti/Epitaph

Tekst: Scott Finnell

Publicatiedatum: 17 april 2002

Last week, I almost choked on a pretzel when I heard a girl on MTV America's teeny-bop franchise TRL say that she was into "indie bands and local acts." It was a crystallizing moment in which the full scope of American youth culture's paradigm shift away from the Mouseketeer R&B of N'Sync, Britney, and all of their copycats became fully apparent. Most of the kids are turning onto crappy mass-market bands like Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit, but at least they're listening to people make their own music, right? And some of those kids aren't stopping at the Wal-Mart bands; they're going deeper to find groups with a little bit of - dare I say - indie credibility, bands like Weezer and Jimmy Eat World, bands that in the past carried a little weight when you name- dropped them at the local record store. After what seems like a generation of Disney-pop swill, it's fairly refreshing. Bands are back, and emo is looking a lot like grunge was in 1991.

Into this fertile soil, old-school indie-rockers The Promise Ring cast their new album Wood/Water. Since 1996, TPR has been one of the biggest names in the indie rock world because they've always been accessible groups, often serving as a gateway to the more esoteric fringes of indie. But be warned: This is not your older sister's Promise Ring, kids. Wood/Water, coming on the heels of 2000's saccharine-sweet Electric Pink EP, represents quite a maturation for the band. The music is still pop, don't get me wrong, but there's a depth and texture here that wasn't around in the past. You can hear it in the production, where TPR is finally getting into some of the ambient bells-and-whistles that Radiohead was using on The Bends. The effect isn't overpowering; in fact, this is the band's most intimate and nuanced album to date. Think Coldplay, but with a sunnier disposition and a singer with an "oh-so-cool-because-it-exemplifies-the-Zen-idea- of-the-perfect-imperfection" ragged voice. With Wood/Water, The Promise Ring has put out a solid album of acoustic indie-rock that gets better with every listen, mood music for those 3am rides home. My plan is to enjoy it while I can, because pretty soon MTV's going to be carpet-bombing us with pop-punk, emo, and indie rock.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/the-promise-ring/wood-water/1467/
Meer The Promise Ring op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/the-promise-ring