THE JULIANA THEORY – Brett Detar and Joshua Fielder – are back with another reimagining this week – “We’re At The Top Of The World” – another classic track pulled from their seminal 2000 album Emotion Is Dead. The song is now available to stream via your preferred listening service and comes alongside an incredible new video featuring Jesse Korman of The Number 12 Looks Like You and Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan and explores the idea of “guilty pleasures”.
Brett says of the idea behind the video: “Let’s talk about ‘guilty pleasures’. We all have them and for a lot of people The Juliana Theory (and the song ‘Top of The World’ in particular) is one of them. I can’t tell you how many times some big burly guy who looks like he only listens to Slayer would almost look around to make sure no one was listening before quietly telling me that he secretly loves that song. I basically did the same thing with certain songs I enjoyed until a few years ago when I decided to banish the concept of a ‘guilty pleasure’ from my own life. Truthfully, I would always blast ‘Party In the USA’ by Miley Cyrus if it came on the radio while driving the streets of LA but now I don’t care what any ultra hip kid thinks when I roll past them as I am singing along. The joy of completely losing yourself in a song, dancing like no one is watching, is one of life’s greatest pleasures. The video for ‘Top Of The World’ tells the ultimate story of this very abandonment. So put your hands up: they’re playing your song and the butterflies fly away“.
On the song’s reimagining, Josh says: “’We’re At The Top Of The World’, while being some people’s favorite TJT song, was always one of my least favorite songs from the band. However, now that we recorded it for this ‘reimagined’ record, this is THE version for me. When I initially wrote the chords and bassline at home ages ago, I always envisioned this song as an ode to the Beatles. This new rendition is exactly the way I imagined it to be back in 2000. We were just too young then to truly pull it off in this way. If I could have a time machine I would go back to put this version on ‘Emotion Is Dead’”.
Due out next week, “A Dream Away” is the Juliana Theory’s first album in fifteen years and sees the band reimagining some of their most beloved tracks through a fresh lens and a new perspective. The idea sprouted from a 2019 acoustic tour which would become the bases of the duo’s surprise return to making new music together 15 years later. On that tour, they began to strip back and rethink some of their most well-loved songs much in the spirit on MTV’s Unplugged. “It was a very fun challenge to try and honor the pure, creative spirit these songs were originally made with while building upon the acoustic foundation with mellotrons, pianos, glockenspiels, woodwinds, and a healthy dose of strings”, Detar says.
Vinyl sold out within hours of release but today the band has released an additional two color variants limited to 100 each! A limited Black Metal Collection of merch celebrating “We’re At The Top Of The World” Reimagined is also out today. Shop at adreamaway.shop!
The band also announced their first live show in support of “A Dream Away” at Furnace Fest, happening Sept. 24-26th in Birmingham, AL. Tickets and full lineup is available now at www.furnacefest.us.
