Lowrev - It's Hard To Lie To Strangers
When Josh Fiedler says that making a solo album was truly the last thing he ever wanted to do, trust us: He’s not fronting. While he’s proud of the accomplishments he’s made as a loving husband and doting dad, he’s also made his fair share of heads swivel as a founding member/lead guitarist of The Juliana Theory, the Western Pennsylvania post-emo outfit he’s been a founding member of for close to 30 years. But it was only last year that he decided to assume his position in the spotlight to write and record It’s Hard To Lie To Strangers, his solo debut for Equal Vision under the sobriquet LOWREV.
Since completing the record in 2025, Fiedler has been downright excited. And for good reason: It’s because on Strangers, every decision is all on him. There’s no sidebar steering committee with a band member, unlike his other band-life constructs in J-Theory and his other band, the ‘90s-tinged Pack. “This is like a whole new world to me, getting to do all this by myself,” Fiedler says. “Typically, I have four other people that I’m discussing this kind of stuff with. Or a manager. Or other people that want their way. I didn’t even think of who I wanted to mix it with until that time came or what I wanted the album cover to be, or how the layout should look. It’s weird to get to do all this by myself. So it’s rather exciting to have full control over something. He begins to laugh. “Because I don’t get full control over much!”
Over the years, Fiedler and Equal Vision president Dan Sandshaw had become good friends since J-Theory joined the roster. Purely following a whim, Fiedler decided to share his new music with him. “I sent him the original five songs I had and said, ‘Hey, I want to do something with this. I don’t totally know what yet, but I think it’s cool enough that I want to put it out into the world.’ He listened to it and agreed. And that’s when Dan asked what I thought about doing a full LP instead of just an EP and see how it goes.
“When Dan actually heard the LOWREV record, he was like, ‘I thought this was going to be cool, but I didn’t know it was going to be actually really cool—very different from everything that [the label] has out there.’ He said, ‘The world needs more sad bastard music because we don’t have enough of it.’ [Laughs.] So this was it, apparently. He was obviously willing to put it out on the label!”
Recorded in his basement studio at his home in Greensburg, the album’s 12 tracks are quite the departure from his lyrical guitar attributes. Fiedler played and tracked all the vocals, guitars, keyboards and drum programming, calling in his old friend Justin Niedzwecki to bring more percussive oomph at certain junctures. Now LOWREV’s’ sonic introspection does manifest in unusual ways. It’s not like the album is tattling as if Fiedler is somehow held captive creatively within the framework of The Juliana Theory. And it’s certainly not a reinvention. (continue reading full bio on our DISCO)