A Review by The Phantom Tollbooth


Understanding This is a Dream Artist: The Juliana Theory Label: Tooth & Nail Records Tracks/Time: 10 tracks/42:30 minutes

What the heavy metal world has lost, the pop world has gained. Brett Detar, former guitarist of the metal band Zao, has created The Juliana Theory, a band in the guitar heavy tradition of Weezer, Lit, and The Magnificent Three.

Although The Juliana Theory's music is best described as post-punk pop, small dashes of emo abound. The songs tend to center around the smooth singing of Detar, with the chunky layered guitars providing the perfect backdrop for his voice. This is not a band dependent upon noise and volume, however, as strong ballads like "Augest in Bethany" and "For Evangeline" prove. Other songs, such as "This is Not a Love Song" and "Music Box Superhero," confirm that the band can indeed handle the noise.

Lyrically, The Juilana Theory's songs have a general theme of longing--longing for spiritual peace, but mostly for past relationships. Songs like "Duane Joseph" verify the longing for past relationships:

You and me, why can't it be the

way it was when pain was only

plastic guns, my closest friend I couldn't

say you are a million miles away, I guess

I'll hold my breath, there is no harm in hoping for change.

"For Evangeline" showcases the longing for spiritual peace:

In one night you made me your own

the deepest embraces creation

I lay there for days and you forgot

in one night you made me you own.

With production from Barry Poynter, The Juliana Theory provide some solid songs on this album, but there isn't any ground-breaking material here. While the band does some things well, such as tight musicmanship and vocals, there's nothing here that hasn't been heard in some form from some other of the countless modern pop bands that fill the airways. Still, this is a solid effort, hopefully one upon which the band can build.

Joe Rockstroh (4/22/99)

These guys are more along the lines of emo-pop than emo-core. Lead singer Brett Detar has assembled a fine group of musicians just as skilled at hooks as they are at angst. That is both their strongest suit and their biggest weakness: a song like “Show Me the Money,” which consists of one pop hook and one chorus repeated over and over again, is way too slight to seem like anything more than filler. Other songs are more developed but suffer from too many lyrical vagaries. These are minor complaints, however. For the most part, this album manages to be both interesting and accessible. This is most evident on “Music Box Superhero,” with its beautifully atonal guitar line. If that track is any indication of where The Juliana Theory is headed, then they’ve laid the foundation for great things to come.

Tommy Jolly (8/21/99)