The Promise Ring: 30 Degrees Everywhere 12″

Description

Colored Vinyl Reissue of 1996 Debut

The Promise Ringwere formed in 1995 in Milwaukee, WI by guitaristJason Gnewikow, drummerDan Didierand bassistScott Beschta. The band was eventually rounded out by frontmanDavey von Bohlen, who at the time was a new enlistee into Midwest darlings Cap’n Jazz but gaveThe Promise Ringtheir crucial missing piece. In 1996, the group signed with Jade Tree and released their debut,30 Degrees Everywhere, a powerful introduction that distilled the spirit and vigor of some of the members’ punk and hardcore backgrounds and spit-shined it with von Bohlen’s tastefully angsty melodicism.

But30 Degrees Everywhereis deceptively complex, masked by layers of driving guitars and buoyant rhythms. It’s also deceptively dark, as the singer’s heart-on-sleeve lyrics tackling love, loss, regret and disappointment and emotive delivery were hallmarks ofThe Promise Ring’sgenre-leading sound. This raw emotion, along with an overall lack of polish, ultimately gives the album an endearing personality. You won’t find perfect performances here; rather, you’re getting real songs about real life played by real people in real time.

Boiled down,30 Degrees Everywhereis the foundation of a musical legacy, a lightning-in-a-bottle musical moment that demands listeners pay attention to its urgency and passion in the end, what more could you ask for?