Wood/Water is the fourth and final studio album by American rock band the Promise Ring. It was released by Anti- on April 23, 2002. While touring in support of their third studio album, Very Emergency (1999), the Promise Ring were due to leave for a European tour; frontman Davey von Bohlen was diagnosed with meningioma on the day of departure. As a result of a post-surgical infection, the band could not tour for the remainder of 2000. In early 2001, the Promise Ring made demos with Kristian Riley, and then recorded a track with producer Mario Caldato Jr. in Los Angeles, California. The Promise Ring flew to the UK for six weeks of recording with Stephen Street, before returning to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for further recording. The album moved away from the emo sound of the band's past works into alternative country, indie rock, and pop territory.
Wood/Water received generally favorable reviews from music critics, many of whom praised the reinvention of the Promise Ring's sound. Before the band promoted it, Bohlen had additional surgery. They embarked on an accompanying US tour, which featured touring keyboardist William Seidel. The music video for "Stop Playing Guitar" was released in May 2002; the song was released as the album's lead single two months later. The Promise Ring appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in May 2002, before supporting Jimmy Eat World on a UK tour; a US support slot for Jimmy Eat World followed in July and August of that year. The band performed for the 2002 Plea for Peace tour prior to breaking up in mid-October that same year.
Background and recording Writing and Bohlen's illness The Promise Ring released their third studio album Very Emergency in September 1999 on independent record label Jade Tree, fulfilling their three-album contract with the label. The album expanded the band's fan base and received some airplay on college radio. Vocalist-guitarist Davey von Bohlen and drummer Dan Didier worked as part of the acoustic side project Vermont around this time; Vermont also released their second studio album Living Together in September 1999. The Promise Ring were tired of playing what drummer Dan Didier called "those stripped down power type songs" while touring to promote Very Emergency in February 2000, and released their sixth EP Electric Pink in May of that year. Although the band were then scheduled to leave for a two-month European tour, Bohlen was diagnosed with meningioma on the day of departure.
With the tour having been canceled, Bohlen had surgery; the Promise Ring took the next few months off for his recuperation, and to work on new material. The band then supported Bad Religion on tour, and around this time, guitarist Jason Gnewikow said they had five new songs which were closer in style to their second studio album Nothing Feels Good (1997) than Very Emergency. Bohlen developed a post-surgical infection that forced the Promise Ring to drop out of the Bad Religion tour, and made them unable to tour for the rest of 2000. Although they had planned to write and record, the band members spent little time together. Gnewikow worked at his graphics company, while Bohlen and Didier focused on Vermont, and Didier relaxed with his family. The Promise Ring brought recording equipment to their rehearsal room, which allowed Didier and Gnewikow to experiment for hours at a time.
Pre-production and label change In February 2001, the Promise Ring went to Bionic Studios in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to work on material with Kristian Riley of Citizen King. Pre-production was done for "Stop Playing Guitar", "Wake Up April", "My Life Is at Home" and "Say Goodbye Good"; the session resulted in songs that differed in style from those on Very Emergency. The band was no longer signed to Jade Tree by March 2001, and signed with the Epitaph Records imprint Anti- later that year. In April and May 2001, the band went on a short tour with Camden; by this point, William Seidel joined as a touring keyboardist. Later in May 2001, the band demoed material on Pro Tools, which marked a change from their previous process of jamming when rehearsing, playing songs live and recording them as quickly as possible in the studio. They attempted to reinvent their sound, although initially wrote material in the vein of Very Emergency. After some difficulty, the Promise Ring re-evaluated and decided to write material at a steady pace.
Epitaph Records contacted the Promise Ring when it became known that they would not release their next album on Jade Tree. The record label contacted the band's manager, but the band had little interest due to their unpleasant appearance on tour with Bad Religion. Epitaph was also primarily known for one style: Californian pop punk. Brett Gurewitz of Bad Religion, who founded Epitaph, flew the Promise Ring out to Los Angeles, California. Although he wanted them to sign with Epitaph, the Promise Ring wanted to record for Anti- because they were more familiar with the imprint; it featured artists, such as Tom Waits, Tricky and Merle Haggard, who did not fit into Epitaph's roster.
Anti- was understanding, since it was aware that the band wanted to move away from the emo genre. The Promise Ring also wanted more money than Jade Tree could offer, which was the main reason they left the label. Bohlen said that the band and Jade Tree "became more or less synonymous," and they wanted to distance themselves from the record label's sound. Another issue was Jade Tree's reluctance to license the Promise Ring's releases to labels in other countries. The band had to convince Jade Tree to license Electric Pink to Epitaph imprint Burning Heart Records for European release, and to license their albums in Japan, where the Promise Ring were becoming more popular.
Production The Promise Ring wanted to work with Stephen Street because they thought he could understand the sound they wanted to create. Didier, Bohlen and Gnewikow were fans of the Smiths and Blur, both of whom Street had produced for. Since Street did not want to fly to the US, the Promise Ring flew to the UK to record with him. The band were in the process of finalizing details when Street went on vacation, and they had no way to communicate with him. Beginning to panic about their budget, the Promise Ring decided to split the recording between Street in the UK and Mario Caldato Jr. in Los Angeles. The band went to Los Angeles in mid-2001 and tracked "Say Goodbye Good" at Sonora Studios and MCJ Sound with Caldato producing; Robert Carranza handled recording. The song features bassist Scott Schoenbeck, who was unhappy with the change of sound and unenthusiastic about being in a band. He was replaced by Ryan Weber of Camden for the remainder of Wood/Waters recording. When Street returned from vacation, he said that he would charge less than his usual fee, and the band sent him demos of material they had recorded. They flew to the UK and went to Street's house, playing him the songs' session files.
Street and the Promise Ring then went to Farnham and recorded at Jacobs Studios, a converted farmhouse. The band stayed above the studio, and waited every morning for Street to arrive and listen to the recordings from each previous day. He and Cenzo Townsend engineered the sessions, with assistance from Jon Olliffe. On the first day, Street and the Promise Ring ran through separate lists of songs on which they wanted to work. Although "Become One Anything One Time" was at the bottom of the band's list, it was at the top of Street's; working on the song turned out to be enjoyable for them. During the sessions, the band wrote "Size of Your Life" and "Get on the Floor". The sessions lasted for six weeks, beginning in September 2001 and ending in early November. Additional recording was done for "Suffer Never", "Half Year Sun", "Letters to the Far Reaches" and "Feed the Night" at Polish Moon in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The total cost for the sessions was between $100,000 and $200,000, 10 to 15 times the recording budgets of the Promise Ring's past releases. Street mixed the recordings at Jacobs, except for "Say Goodbye Good", which was mixed by Caldato at Sonora and MCJ Sound. Stephen Marcussen mastered the final recordings at Marcussen Mastering in Los Angeles.
Composition and lyrics Musically, Wood/Water has been described as an alternative country,D'Angelo 2002, p. 5 indie rock, and pop album,Citations regarding publications calling the album pop: D'Angelo 2002, p. 5
with elements of roots rock, alternative pop, and psychedelic pop. The band moved away from their old emo sound, incorporating keyboards, percussion, pianos, acoustic guitars and soft vocals in the vein of Cat Stevens and Travis. Vermont's acoustic guitars and folk-based melodies are also present. Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan wrote that the band had "already started branching away from emo on 1999's power pop-infused Very Emergency, but Wood/Water drew a thick line in the sand between The Promise Ring and the E word". The album was described as reminiscent of the music by Wilco, Guided by Voices, Superchunk, the Flaming Lips, Wheat, and the Delgados. The title of Wood/Water comes from the opening line of "Become One Anything One Time". Gnewikow viewed the album as the "older cousin" of Nothing Feels Good, and said that recording in England was a positive influence: "The area that we were in was very lush and green and in some ways that's how I see the record, sort of warm and comfortable." Bohlen's vocals were compared to the Kinks frontman, Ray Davies, and lyrics on Wood/Water address the themes of change and re-evaluating one's life. Didier said that most of the lyrics are related to touring, especially the tours for Very Emergency; two songs from that album, namely, "Things Just Getting Good" and "All of My Everythings", pre-empted the direction they would explore on Wood/Water.
"Size of Your Life", the opening track, begins with guitar work that was compared to that in R.E.M.'s "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" (1994), and features audio manipulation over Bohlen's vocals. The garage rock-pop song evokes "Tender" (1999) by Blur, and its abrupt keyboard ending recalls the sound Spiritualized. The song sets the lyrical tone for the rest of Wood/Water. During recording, Street told the Promise Ring to stand at the other end of the studio and interact with objects; Didier hit a fire extinguisher, Weber opened and closed a wooden chest, Bohlen banged two croquet mallets together, and Gnewikow played on an upside-down tennis-ball can. The resulting sound was the song's percussion track. "Stop Playing Guitar" is a power ballad that showcases Bohlen's storytelling ability, as he describes spending more time reading books than playing with the band.Beaujon 2002, p. 116 "Suffer Never", a primarily-acoustic song using synthesizers and distorted electric guitars, resembles their earlier material and the Flaming Lips' "Race for the Prize" (1999). "Become One Anything One Time", originally called "Wood/Water", features slide guitar; its "la la la" chorus is reminiscent of "Downhill" (1998) by Mysteries of Life.