Record #394: The Juliana Theory – Music From Another Room(2001)

For all the love Understand This is a Dream (rightly) receives, I think this EP may have been even more important to me.

And it’s not just that opener “This is the End of Your Life” served as my intermediate vocal lessons, or the deep sense of comfort that Moments/In a Fraction still give me. It’s not the memory I have I driving my little sister around as she clutched her giant stuffed lion and me quipping, “we know your lion” during the chorus of “Liability.” And it’s not just the time my best friend recruited me to sing and play guitar for his recording of Piano Song (his Recording Arts class final project).

It’s not just sentimentality.

This album is one hundred percent killer. The perfect midpoint between Understand’s lushly orchestrated emo and Love’s more straightforward rock n roll. The songs are ambitious without being unapproachable. And it’s the strength of these songs that helps the six-song* Music From Another Room stand eye to eye with even their best full lengths.

​*vinyl has a bonus track