The Japanese House playing New Century in Manchester (Jessica Bartolini)
Live versions of songs from The Japanese House’s second album.
After Amber Bain introduced The Japanese House’s In the End It Always Does album with performance videos of Sad To Breathe, Touching Yourself, Sunshine Baby and ‘One for sorrow, two for Joni Jones’, the quartet have been put together on a new live EP entitled ITEIAD Sessions along with previously unheard live versions of Boyhood and ABBA cover Super Trouper.
Live4ever awarded the album 8/10 in our review – summing it up as, ‘an authentic, accomplished body of work’:
“Opener Spot Dog sets the tone for a record themed in the unpredictable extremes of human existence, whether that’s musing on how everything that starts must always have an end or falling in love for it to ultimately dissipate.”
“Irregular opening piano notes lead into ethereal vocal cries of, ‘I don’t want to go yet, I don’t want to come yet’, before a breakdown of Twin Peaks-style backwards speech, warped instrumental and spritely guitar tones make for a ghostly introduction.”
The seemingly upbeat Touching Yourself brings us back into more familiar territory, with Bain’s unique voice able to shift between pitches emotively yet maintain an almost auto-tuned layering of vocal harmonies. The track deals with unbearable longing, building to a soaring chorus and refrain that resembles HAIM at their playful, melodious best.