Interview with Juno Roome

Nina Bohata and Wangui Ngotho
Jul 22, 2020
5 min read

Photo from @junoroome on Instagram

Nina: I was lucky enough to stumble upon Juno Roome previously known as "A. harlana" while deeply sucked into the YouTube wormhole at an ungodly late hour. The first song I came across was his cover of Estelle’s “American Boy” which I’m still obsessed with. Juno Roome’s somber take on the classic blew me away and as I went further down the Roome wormhole I realized that this was an artist I needed to follow. Roome’s music is truly celestial, his dream-like melodies and meaningful lyrics remind you of the beauty in the small moments, the relationships you keep and what you learn from them as well as finding magic in everyday events. Roome’s music is also accompanied by videos that are authentic, raw and beautiful. We were lucky enough to interview the Brooklyn-based artist and find out what inspired the name change as well as what we can expect next from Juno Roome.

American Boy - Juno Roome cover

Mohair - Juno Roome

Interview

1. What initiated the name change from A.harlana to Juno Roome?

I think I’ve always had a hard time reconciling my personal identity with my creative identity — mainly stemming from self-esteem and self-confidence issues really — feeling as though I myself personally isn’t good enough or isn’t really something to be championed; but if I gave my work a separate identity of its own, then it can be good enough, and stand on its own. So I’ve always given my projects names, to dissociate it from my own person. Then within the past year or two, I had gradually begun to realize that that’s what I was doing, and have gotten to a place where I felt comfortable enough with myself to be able to work as myself and not (hide) under a pseudonym. So I’ve actually been hoping to change the name for a while since then — also because I had other creative endeavors I wanted to pursue in my life, such as filmmaking, writing, comedy, etc., and it just made sense to operate under a singular name that would consolidate all of my prospective projects. I didn’t know at all if I actually would change the name though, because A. harlana was on a pretty decent trajectory at the time, and it’s just such a pain to rebrand everything. Then in early May, my label person and I finally decided to split after many weeks of negotiating / discussions, and with that split, I was also already planning some structural changes to the project, so it just seemed like the perfect time to take a little step back and take the time to rebrand.

Textile Workers - Juno Roome

2. Who are your top 3 dream artists to collaborate with?

A friend and I wrote a duet that we both thought beabadoobee would’ve been perfect for — I emailed her manager to no response — understandably because I’m just a nobody still haha. I was also looking at the “Fans Also Like” page on my Spotify profile yesterday actually, and found an artist named Mikayla Geier, and really loved her voice. It would be cool to sing with her in the future.

3. Your style of music is dreamlike and almost other-worldly who are your biggest musical influences and how would you describe your sound?

I tend to say that my music is like Explosions in the Sky + Britney Spears. (When people don’t know Explosions in the Sky, I substitute them with Sigur Ros)

Photo from @junoroome on Instagram

4. What advice would you give to music artists that are starting out and what should they lookout for when signing to recording labels?

I don’t think I’m nowhere qualified to answer this question hahaha I’m also still just starting out technically. I’ve been making music for a long time but have really just in the past year found the path that I’m on currently.

5. What is your dream venue to perform in?

I used to think playing big venues like MSG(Madison Square Garden) was kind of cheesy, but my perspective has changed on that — my perspective has changed about a lot of things regarding my work and the industry. I've never wanted to become famous when I was younger, then I realized that fame is a resource — fame lets artists make the art that they want to. Making a living doing art is a life of compromises, but the more fame you have, the less you’re required to compromise on your art. And I also think there’s a certain special quality about your work be able to connect with so many people — this is more of a personal realization that I had when I was still in school, but I don’t think there’s such a thing as good or bad art; really if people are connecting with the art, then it’s good; it has its own value, exactly the value that it wanted to have. And if a lot of people are connecting with it, then there’s something really undeniably significant there. So to answer your question, it would be really cool if someday I played a sold out show at MSG, the thought of that many people having connected to my work all at the same time feels like a very special thing.

Faces (Live looping sessions) - Juno Roome

6. Your “American Boy” and “How Deep Is Your Love” covers are amazing and are almost unrecognizable to the originals as you make them completely your own. Is there a particular song that you’ve loved and wished you had written yourself?

Glad you like them! Oh, there are a ton of songs I wish I had written… Most of the Beach Boys tunes really.

How Deep Is Your Love - Juno Roome Cover

7. Do you have a favorite song that you’ve written?

My favorite song that I’ve written is probably whichever one I wrote most recently… but I really like the songs that are going to be on the next album, and I really really like the songs on the album after that, and really love the ones on the album after that one.

8. What can we expect in the future from Juno Roome?

I am planning for a steady stream of new songs and videos for the rest of the year, which will then get compiled into an album called “doxata.” And then I have another album after that, then maybe do some serious filmmaking for a bit, then do another album. I’m really excited for what’s to come — I have so many songs basically just waiting to be finished on my computer, it’d be really satisfying to let them all see the light of day.