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| New Wave meets emo on an expectation-smashing album. Studying Politics, So Cold I Could See My Breath, Listening To Freddie Mercury, Returning..., etc. |
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| 1 So Cold I Could See My Breath |
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| 2 Playing with Fire |
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| 3 Returning the Smile You Have Had from the Start |
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| 4 Studying Politics |
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| 5 Left with Alibis and Lying Eyes |
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| 6 Listening to Freddie Mercury |
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| 7 The Weakest |
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| 8 Miss Behavin' |
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| 9 In Between 4th and 2nd Street |
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| 10 The Terrible Secret |
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| 11 In a Lose, Lose Situation |
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| 12 In a Win, Win Situation |
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Album Review
Emery try their best to fall just outside the vast domain that is "emo", but for all their efforts, the shimmering guitars, melodic verses and at times larger-than-life choruses make their attempts fall in vain. "So Cold I Could See My Breath" is a good example as lead singer Toby Morelle and company offer up a beefy chorus with great harmonies before ebbing back to the softer portion of their soft-hard framework. There is a portion where the delayed harmonies are comparable to The Futureheads, yet it's only temporary. A bit of angst never hurts, even if it's placed in such a well-worn arrangement. "Playing With Fire" fares better as guitarist Matt Carter complements the retro-meets-New Wave keyboard work of Josh Head. The hook also works in the chorus as Morelle wails away on each word while the pop smarts in the vein of XTC makes for an interesting dichotomy on the metal-tinged "Returning The Smile You Have Had From The Start". By far though the selling point has to be the finely-tuned and lean-sounding "Studying Politics" which discovers its groove and rides the hell out of it, creating one of their strongest numbers thus far despite the brief but spacey, cheesy coda. The winding, swaying and oddly titled "Listening To Freddie Mercury" has nothing much to do with the late Queen singer, instead the track creates a quasi-anthem far too fragmented to be taken seriously. One sleeper pick might be "Miss Behavin'" that has a high-octane punk-meets-sweeping, majestic pop feel to it thanks to Carter and drummer Dave Powell. Emery sounds like the group are repeating themselves on "The Terrible Secret", a radio-friendly, up-tempo ditty. The album concludes with the one-two combo of "In A Lose, Lose Situation" and "In A Win, Win Situation", the latter being a lengthy, maudlin sort of track that Emery drags too often. ~ Jason MacNeil, All Music Guide
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• Biography
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Other albums by: Emery |
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