“The Anchors” is the song here that’s most worthy of attention, the catchy melody and clean vocals punctuated by guttural outbursts which give the track a sort of uplifting passion, yet without seeming preachy or wistful (as is commonly the case in music with religious overtones). Echoes of that energy are also felt in the subsequent songs “The Curse of the Perfect Days” and “You Wanted It.” The rest of We Do What We Want, however, is a swing-and-a-miss. Each track has its good moments but there are no good minutes: Either the vocals clash with the instrumental parts of the song, or the breakdowns and riffs are just not noteworthy.
And while the slow-moving, soft-spoken ballad “I Never Got to See the West Coast” is a welcome respite from shrieks and screams of the first six songs and demonstrates versatility on Emery’s part, it’s followed by yet another slow song for the finale. The sustained downward tempo shift is anticlimactic if you listen to We Do What We Want from start to finish. Isn’t the point of releasing an album, as opposed to a packaged collection of singles, to carefully craft the song order, in addition to the overall theme? The bottom line: Emery may have done what they wanted, but that doesn’t mean that listeners will want the result—at least, not all of it. CONOR MYHRVOLD
Check out the track “The Curse of Perfect Days” from Emery’s new album, We Do What We Want, below:
In our never-ending quest to provide you with the best music available, we present the Revolver Bootleg Series. Every month we’ll feature new, rare, and often exclusive music. This installment comes from South Carolina quartet Emery. Their album, We Do What We Want (Solid State/Tooth and Nail), comes out tomorrow, but they share one track off the album, “The Anchors,” a day early. Singer Toby Morrell fills us in on the song below.
REVOLVER: What’s “The Anchors” about?
MORRELL: This song is very personal to me. It is based on a true story from second grade. A girl that liked me was making fun of me, because in elementary school that’s what you do: You pick on someone because you like them. I know that now but at the time I was just getting my feelings hurt. I lashed out and said something terrible, and my words have haunted me for years. In a matter of seconds I realized nothing would be the same.
Which part of it did you come up with first? And what was the inspiration?
We came up with the music first and then lyrics. That’s how we usually write. The music seems to help create the lyrics and lead us to the meaning or story in the song.
Was this an easy song to write or record? Why or why not?
Well, yes and no. Matt did most of the recording and production so us other guys didn’t have to worry about that part. But the lyrics were a little brutal to get out and to really capture what I wanted to say.
What sort of feedback have you gotten on this song so far?
It’s been unbelievable. I think it is and will be a lot of people’s favorite song on the record.