While other emo bands were locked in an arms race, dreaming up concept albums or indulging in hair-metal hugeness, Brand New were learning judo. The quartet's fourth album avoids genre commonplaces with subtle shadings — here some Modest Mouse-style whine, there some warped blues riffs. Jesse Lacey delivers goth-tastic proclamations — "You tried to put a fire out, but you used gasoline" — and songs like the heroin-jag slow-burner "Bed" prove that letting rip isn't always Lacey's best move.