The Question — Emery

Emery's The Question came out on Tooth & Nail on 2 August 2005. It's twelve tracks and forty-one minutes long. The band recorded it in 2005 at Compound Recording in Seattle, Washington. Aaron Sprinkle produced it, and Brandon Ebel was executive producer. J. R. McNeely mixed most of the album at Compound, while Randy Staub mixed Studying Politics and The Terrible Secret at the Warehouse in Vancouver, BC. Troy Glessner mastered it at Spectre Studios. Aaron Lipinski was assistant engineer and Aaron Mlasko was drum tech. Sprinkle also added keyboards and programming, and Melanie Studley sang the female vocals.

There were six people in the band. Josh Head handled unclean vocals, keys, synths, programming and piano. Toby Morrell shared lead vocals, clean and unclean, and added guitar. Devin Shelton sang clean lead vocals and played rhythm guitar. Matt Carter played lead guitar and sang backing vocals, Joel "Chopper" Green played bass, and Dave Powell played drums and percussion. Invisible Creature and the band handled art direction, Ryan Clark designed it for Invisible Creature, and Jerad Knudson shot the photos.

It was their second studio album, after The Weak's End in 2004. The single Studying Politics got Modern Rock airplay, and the FMQB archive dates it to 21 February 2006. A deluxe reissue in 2006 added acoustic versions, demos and a DVD, but I'm only talking about the original twelve songs here. The packaging was nominated for Recorded Music Packaging of the Year at the 37th GMA Dove Awards in 2006. It's post-hardcore that leans into progressive rock, with Emery's trademark pair of lead singers. It gets an 8/10.

What you're hearing

Open the booklet and the album title turns into an unfinished sentence, "Where were you when I was…", and every track title finishes it. So Cold I Could See My Breath opens cold and cocky, and it's about lust pretending to be love. Playing with Fire is where Matt Carter's guitar and Josh Head's retro new-wave keys lock into the hook AllMusic's Jason MacNeil compared to XTC, smart pop crashing into the heavy side. Returning the Smile You Have Had from the Start is the lean, metal-tinged punch. Studying Politics is the first of the videos. It's groove-first and made for radio, Staub mixed it, and it's still the song most people know. Left with Alibis and Lying Eyes puts you in the getaway car, yelling "Drive! Drive! Drive!" while the alibis fall apart. Listening to Freddie Mercury isn't a Queen tribute. It's the take-down of church hypocrisy and sin that JFH's Josh Taylor singled out, built around the line that levels everyone's sinning heart. The Weakest carries the weight in the middle. Miss Behavin' is MacNeil's pick for high-octane punk running into grand pop, thanks to Carter and Powell. In Between 4th and 2nd Street is the thirty-two-second bridge. The Terrible Secret is the other Staub mix, upbeat and radio-friendly. In a Lose, Lose Situation and the long closer In a Win, Win Situation end in regret, with "I'd take it all back to start over again," and there's a short hidden sting at the very end.

Josh Taylor reviewed it for JFH on 5 August 2005. He heard a catchier, more accessible Emery than on The Weak's End, with less screaming and more melody. He liked how brutally honest it was with teenagers who want to blame everyone else. He noted that Christians take a hard hit on Listening to Freddie Mercury, and that there's no tidy hope stuck on the end. AllMusic's Jason MacNeil gave it 3.5 out of 5. He said the band landed in emo territory even though they tried to dodge it, with shimmering guitars, melodic verses and huge choruses. He called Studying Politics one of their strongest grooves and picked Playing with Fire and Miss Behavin' as highlights. He also found Listening to Freddie Mercury too fragmented and thought the closer dragged.

How it was made

Compound Recording in Seattle was Sprinkle's room, and a lot of mid-2000s Tooth & Nail records came out of there. The band spent five weeks in the studio after touring the first album. McNeely mixed most of it at Compound, and Staub took the two radio-leaning songs at the Warehouse. Glessner mastered it at Spectre. Ebel was executive producer and Jonathan Dunn handled A&R for Tooth & Nail. The Invisible Creature artwork by Ryan Clark, with a man passing along a question, is the cover Taylor described, and it's what earned that Dove nomination. This is the album where Emery sanded down the melodic hardcore edge of The Weak's End into catchier post-hardcore. Head's screaming stayed, and so did the twin clean leads of Morrell and Shelton, so it never went soft. The deluxe edition with the DVD and acoustic tracks came later, on 21 November 2006. The Question Live, released on BC Music in 2021, is a separate front-to-back live recording. I'm not reviewing either of those.

Where the score lands

It gets an eight because the pieces fit. Sprinkle produced it at Compound, McNeely and Staub split the mix, and it's a confident second album for Tooth & Nail that picked up a Dove nomination for its packaging. Taylor praised its honesty and MacNeil praised its grooves, even while MacNeil said it leaned on emo habits and the closer dragged. It's not a ten, because the choppy middle stretch and that regretful, hopeless ending are real limits. It's not a seven either. The strong run of videos, a title-as-question idea that actually holds up across all twelve songs, and the fact that this is the record that defined mid-2000s Emery push it up to eight.

Watch

The official video for Studying Politics comes first. After that you'll find So Cold I Could See My Breath, Playing with Fire, Left with Alibis and Lying Eyes, Listening to Freddie Mercury and The Terrible Secret, then a live take of Studying Politics. Songs from later albums like I'm Only a Man and ...In Shallow Seas We Sail aren't here.

Where this album sits on Loud Faith

Mid-2000s Christian post-hardcore and emo on Tooth & Nail was a scene with real pull. It meant Seattle studios, youth-group car parks, the odd Modern Rock radio hit and Invisible Creature album covers. The Question is Emery's second studio album, the one Taylor called honest and MacNeil loved for the groove of Studying Politics. That song is still where I'd start.