After spending six years playing to a small but loyal fringe following of emo kids, the Promise Ring break hearts and stereotypes on their fourth studio album. With the help of producer Stephen Street (Smiths, Blur, Pretenders) and new label Anti- Records (Tom Waits, Merle Haggard), the Milwaukee band sets aside its furrow-browed bedroom angst and embraces whopping Technicolor melodies, elegant guitar rock passages, and an air of confidence that suggests they mean it this time. Wood/Water presents the Promise Ring at their most approachable; it's a gorgeous pastiche of hallowed left-field acts like the Flaming Lips ("Suffer Never"), Weezer ("Get on the Floor"), and a folky Beck ("Letters to the Far Reaches"). The most remarkable track is "Become One Anything One Time," which casts them as the American answer to Travis and delivers the heartbreaking affirmation: "I'm just happy you stuck around." The Promise Ring: clearly worth the wait. --Aidin Vaziri