The Promise Ring
30° Everywhere

THE REVIEW

When I bought this CD (after more than a month of waiting), I put it in the player and pressed play, I was taken aback. I was expecting the usual Sunny Day Real Estate clone band, and instead, I found myself with an album that even I wouldn’t know how to define properly.

In this album, irregularity reigns supreme. The songs do not have fixed structures; there is no classic verse - chorus - verse - chorus, in fact, very often there is no chorus, or there might be two. The song lyrics are written in the booklet following a logical thread, but in the songs, the phrases are mixed, creating a somewhat strange but very pleasant effect... then there’s Von Bohlen’s voice (ex Cap n' Jazz), off-key, but damn beautiful and intense. All this colors the album with a thousand different shades, the songs seem like nursery rhymes written by a teenager. The two guitars intertwine with the typical emo octave chords; the drums are at times light, almost imperceptible, and at times pounding. In three tracks there is also the violin, which, however, does not have great relevance.

The tracks flow one after another without problems, thanks also to their brief duration (the CD lasts a total of 36 minutes). It starts with "Everywhere in Denver", my least favorite song on the album, and moves through the continuous rhythm changes of "Heart Of a Broken Story", to the sweetness of "My Firetower Flame", to the famous "A Picture Postcard", my favorite, up to the concluding "We Don't Like Romance", an excellent instrumental track. Also worth mentioning are "The Sea Of Cortez" and "Run Down The Waterfall", two other really beautiful pieces. However, the songs deserve to be listened to all; each one is a snippet of a teenager's life, told in the Promise Ring manner.

In conclusion, a really beautiful album, which I would recommend only to those who haven't surpassed 18-19 years. It would make no sense to listen to this album as an adult. It's a pity that the Promise Ring, after this beautiful debut and after the excellent "Nothing Feels Good", lost all their originality and became a boring pop band.

"I live across the street from heaven and catching the notes of an eye, there's nothing like catching your eyes"