Love (The Juliana Theory album)

The Juliana Theory released their first two albums Understand This Is a Dream (in March 1999) and Emotion Is Dead (in August 2000) through independent Christian label Tooth & Nail Records.[1][2] Frontman Brett Detar said they signed "a horrendous deal" with the label.[3] The band hired Lounder Than Bombs Management to aid them in securing a major label contract.[4] The success of both albums (combined sales of over 100,000 copies)[5] attracted attention from labels in mid-2001; staff from the companies appeared the group's shows.[6] In June 2001, they signed a five-album contract with Sony Music Entertainment-imprint Epic Records,[4] as the label was more "understand[ing of] the band", according to Detar.[6]

They received some backlash from their fans who wished for them to stay independent.[3] Drummer Neil Hebrank was replaced by Josh Walter leading up to the recording of the group's next album.[5] When finding a producer, the band found former Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison the most enthusiastic.[7] They had attempted to get Butch Vig, who was occupied recording and performing with Garbage, and Metallica producer Bob Rock to no avail. Prior to recording, Harrison spent a week hanging out with the group discussing song arrangements and work on other items, to see how they would interact with him.[6]

They began recording with Harrison in early 2002 in San Francisco, California.[8] Love cost $450,000 to make, in contrast to the $6,000 and $10,000 for their debut and Emotion Is Dead respectively. Detar said "a bunch of dumb things" led to them sending that much money. For example, Harrison billed the label $800 on a weekly basis to rent out his Pro Tools rig, which the group used for around four months. By the end of the sessions they bought the rig outright from Harrison. The long period of recording was down to their engineer, who left to adopt a daughter, resulting in the band hiring another engineer.[9]

On the band's previous releases, Detar would record one vocal take and punch in the odd word or phrase that he felt needed adjusting. For Love, Harrison had him record several vocal takes of each track, and would make a composite of what they felt was the superior performance of each line. Detar said it came across as "way more natural that way, and easier to get a performance that felt and sounded more cohesive."[6] A few of his parts on demo recordings were added to the final studio versions as he perceived he wouldn't be able to best the performance of them, such as a scream on "In Conversation".[6]

Love is an alternative rock album[10] that saw the group move away from the emo sound of their earlier work,[10][11] drawing comparison to Audiovent and Jimmy Eat World.[12] It mixed the anthemic nature of Iron Maiden, the pop sound of The Joshua Tree (1987)-era U2, the energy of Sunny Day Real Estate[10] and the melodies of Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page,[11] alongside incorporated elements of folk rock, hip hop, grunge, power metal[10] and post-punk.[13] Some of the heavier tones were attributed to Waltler, as Detar referred to him as "a much more aggressive player", and could "feel the power ... even on softer stuff [as] he's still laying into the drums pretty hard."[5] Though Detar later attributed that to himself and his past experience in Zao: "I think after I wasn't playing heavy music anymore there was always a part of that that seeped into my writing but it didn't really come into play until this record."[9]

The lyrics focus on the importance of love in people's lives and the frustrations that accompany it.[14] Bassist Chad Alan said the album was a reaction to "a lot of things going on around us in the world."[15] Detar said the record was a better representation of the group's live performances than their earlier releases. Harrison and Schiffman both pushed Detar's vocals "delivery further, and to sing lines as opposed to just play the part. It made the music more expressive and emotional."[7] A second area that the band worked on was incorporating the pop hooks into the three-guitar structure of Detar and guitarists Josh Kosker and Josh Fiedler.[4]

The opening track "Bring It Low" is a riff-centered heavy rock track, followed by "Do You Believe Me?", which tackles trust issues, misunderstanding and self—destruction of one's worth in personal relationships.[4] "Shell of a Man" changes tone three times over the course of its less-than-six minute running time: a slow-building track to a Skid Row-indebted power ballad to a piano coda.[10] "Congratulations" featured two guitar riffs that Detar compared to Zao, and later regretted incorporating them.[9] "Jewel to Sparkle" is a gentle ballad above love;[4] the music for it was the first thing written for the album.[13] "White Days" is a ballad that talks about being able to outlast a snowstorm in the Rocky Mountains. "Trance" is an aggressive talk about life, and is followed by "In Conversation", which discusses breakdowns in communication.[4] "Into the Dark" was originally included on Emotion Is Dead.[16]

In June 2002, the group embarked on a US tour with Glassjaw and Piebald,[17] which was followed with another US tour in July and August. On July 16, Love was announced for release in October.[7] In September, the group co-headlining the Great Day festival with the Clarks.[18] In October, the album was delayed till early 2003 due to the group's label and management feeling it would get lost amongst the other releases in the November–December period.[19] The following month, the group embarked on a tour of the UK.[20] Between January and March 2003, the band went on a co-headlining tour of the US with Something Corporate.[21] They were supported by Vendetta Red, Red West[22] and Fiction Plane.[23] The band had to cancel several shows due to Detar suffering from tonsillitis, strep throat, the flu and lead poisoning; six weeks had passed before he made a complete recovery.[24]

Love was eventually released on February 4;[25] Detar said the label considered it "dead before it came out" due to it leaking seven months prior, in addition to people at the label who championed the band had left or were fired.[26] On June 13, the album was released in Australia through Sony Music Australia. To coincide with this, the group supported One Dollar Short on their national tour in June and July.[27] The album was released on vinyl for the first time in 2014.[28]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
CMJ New Music Report	Favorable[11]
Kludge	8/10[14]
Melodic	[12]
The Phantom Tollbooth	Unfavorable[16]
Rolling Stone	[29]

Love had sold 17,000 copies in the first week of its release.[30] Leading up to the release of Deadbeat Sweetheartbeat (2005), sales of Love had reached over 100,000 copies.[31]

Greg Olmeda of Kludge said it was a "refreshing new approach" to what the band's fans were used to listening to, as they "seem intent on exploring new musical territory as they readily waver between genres with stunning musical precision."[14] It "delivers the goods, with 14 assorted tracks that will lull you to sleep in one moment, and wake you up the next."[14] The "[c]hurning" guitar work is "easily tamed by ... Detar’s addictively soothing voice."[14] CMJ New Music Report writer Louis Miller said the band "had all of its rough edges polished and buffed into a high-gloss shine" to make it "more consumer-friendly".[11] He found the album was "60 minutes of expert songwriting" with "corpulent guitar-work", and praised the "powerful lilt" of Detar, "whose vocal maneuverings just about force the listen to feel his pangs of loneliness as if they were their own".[11]

AllMusic reviewer Bradley Torreano said the mixture of various bands results in "a melting pot of rock & roll elements that is hard to pin down into any category."[10] He called the collection a "genre-defying album filled with catchy songs that aren't afraid to be brutally heavy one moment just to transition into a gothic beauty the next."[10] Melodic's Johan Wippsson opened his review by calling it their best release. He added that it got better with each listen due to the quality of the tracks and "that they aren't to polished just to suit radio".[12] Rolling Stone negatively called it the "emo-punk version of a Creed album" with the "dark, near-metal riffage, thrashy screeching, big-ass choruses and tenaciously serious poetry".[29] Trae Cadenhead of The Phantom Tollbooth criticized the group as they "tried too hard to reinvent themselves" with there being "nothing independent, raw, or even remotely exciting to be found".[16]

All lyrics are written by Brett Detar, except "Into the Dark", written by Detar, Chad Monticue, Joshua Fiedler, Neil Hebrank and Joshua Kosker; all music is composed by The Juliana Theory.

Citations

Sources