Translating the Name is the debut EP by Newport Beach, California post-hardcore band Saosin, released June 17, 2003 on the independent label Death Do Us Part. Clocking in at just over fifteen minutes across five tracks, the record was produced by guitarist Beau Burchell and features the band's original lineup: Anthony Green on vocals, Justin Shekoski and Beau Burchell on guitars, Zach Kennedy on bass, and Pat McGrath on drums. The EP charted on both the Billboard Independent Albums and Heatseekers charts, a notable achievement for a debut independent release, and quickly spread through online music communities where it developed a devoted following that has persisted for decades. A bonus disc of acoustic demos was included with early pre-orders, and a limited vinyl pressing was sold to attendees of the band's 2022 tour.Musically, the EP established a sound built on sharp contrasts — dreamlike, melodically intricate verses that give way to explosive, emotionally raw choruses — a dynamic that would become a defining characteristic of mid-2000s post-hardcore. Anthony Green's vocals are central to the EP's impact: his voice moves with uncommon range and urgency, lending tracks like "Seven Years," "3rd Measurement in C," and the closing "They Perched on Their Stilts, Pointing and Daring Me to Break Custom" a quality that felt genuinely distinct from the genre's contemporaries. The five songs together span technical precision and emotional volatility in roughly equal measure, and the title itself carries meaning — Saosin translates loosely to "I love you" in a Chinese dialect, a detail that quietly inflects the record's intense emotional register.
