The Japanese House, the moniker belonging to English musician Amber Bain, has existed for over a decade. Since the inception of The Japanese House in 2012, Bain has released several EPs and two albums: Good At Falling (2019) and most recently, In the End It Always Does (2023). Her recent gig at Metro in Chicago was demonstrative of her skill as a musician and a testament to her growth as a person.
Allison Ponthier delivered a spirited opening set to kick off the night. The nine-song-set featured standouts such as “Hollywood Forever Cemetery” as well as “Radio Silent,” and “Lie Detector,” both of which come from her latest EP, “Breaking the Fourth Wall.” For “Star Tripping,” she brought out special guest Kevin Atwater to perform with her. Another highlight from her set was “Skin,” which Ponthier calls her “lesbian serial killer” song.
Before performing her unreleased song “Everywhere Isn’t Texas,” she gave a heartfelt speech to the audience. The song is about how she felt that she could never be herself in her hometown because of her queerness. On her TikTok, she said that she wrote the song “[…] for queer people who have a complicated relationship with home.” Before bidding farewell to the audience, she continued her tradition of taking a selfie with the crowd.
The lights dimmed as Japanese House walked out on the stage, opening the set with “Touching Yourself.” However, the audio wasn’t coming through the speakers at first–a minor technical difficulty. Bain joked with the crowd, saying that she and the band were going to walk off stage, pretend the past two minutes never happened, and come back out, starting from the top. As promised, the band (re)emerged from the smoke, instruments-a-blazin’. The aforementioned song is an upbeat tune that details long-distance romance, a common theme that appears time and time again in Bain’s recent releases. It was a perfect start to the evening’s set, getting both the crowd and the band warmed up.
The third song of the set, “Something Has To Change” comes from the 2020 EP of the same title. This track is a perfect segue into the themes addressed in In The End It Always Does,” which tackles the cyclical nature of life, specifically how the emotions we feel can change over time. The lyrics: “And you look back / You’re going ’round in circles” speak about the feeling of being stuck in the same routine, whether it be not learning from romantic mistakes or taking the same train. The words “something has to change” recur throughout the song like an incantation, which only felt more palpable in a room full of a thousand people sang them together with Bain.
Before launching into “Boyhood,” the sixth song of the set, Bain surveyed the crowd and asked: “Where are my gays at?” and the audience (unsurprisingly) erupted in cheers. “Boyhood” is the lead single from In the End It Always Does, and rightfully so. After a three-year hiatus, Bain returned to the scene with this track–a fresh and exciting introduction to the upcoming album. The song is light and airy paired with raw and emotional lyrics: undeniably The Japanese House.
“Boyhood” debuted on BBC’s Radio 1 and Bain talked about how she “[…] was thinking a lot about being gay and gender obsessed.” In an interview with Apple Music, Bain says: “I was also thinking about gender in terms of me not having had a boyhood. The word ‘girlhood’ doesn’t really even exist. I was thinking about how different it would be had I had a boyhood because a lot of the time I felt like I was a boy and would dress as a boy, asked to be called a boy’s name. It’s taken me a long time to accept certain aspects of my gender.” “Boyhood” is an homage to what could have been but offers hope. We are constantly trying to make peace with our pasts, which ultimately make us, us.
A handful of songs from Good At Falling made it on the setlist, which included “Follow My Girl,” “You Seemed So Happy,” and “Worms.” As Megan Beurger of Pitchfork writes in this album review: “‘Follow My Girl,” an ethereal yet pummeling song about forgetting what it feels like to feel good, blurs synths and vocals together like light trails in a nighttime photograph.” Bain’s live vocals paired with the synth was enchanting. “You Seemed So Happy” is a note-to-self, in which Bain discusses putting on a happy face for those around her, while in reality, dealing with intense feelings of grief and the pressure of being in the public eye. Good At Falling demonstrates Bain’s growth and how important it is to feel fully and deeply, even if it’s unpleasant. After all, her introspection is a key ingredient to her songwriting.
The final three songs of the set before the encore, “Chewing Cotton Wool,” “Saw You in a Dream,” and “Dionne” were a powerful three-song run. Chewing Cotton Wool demonstrates Bain’s vocal prowess in the form of a devastating love song with stripped-back instrumentals and minimal background production. Like a poem, the song uses hyperspecific references to illicit feelings of grief, loss, and missing someone when you see them in everything and feel them everywhere.
“Saw You in A Dream” is the song that put me on to The Japanese House. Though the studio version of the song has an upbeat feel, the song details a dream Bain had about a late childhood friend. In the acoustic version that appears on Good At Falling, Bain’s voice captures the raw emotion and feelings of grief that come with loss. Without context, the song still captures the heartbreak of missing someone, especially when all you’re left with is memories and the feeling of their absence. The song offers some hope, however, with the line: “It isn’t the same but it is enough.” Though this person may be gone, having known them was a gift and it is better to have loved and lost than to have not loved at all.
“Dionne” features Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and the track utilizes texture and distortion, all while maintaining a delicate balance, creating a truly unique sound. The lyrics articulate the embarrassment of being so in love with someone, including the lyrics: “Wishin’ that someone would film the way I’m lookin’ at you right now / I wanna watch it back and then kill myself.” Furthermore, the songs’ lyrics and title are directly in reference to Dionne Warwick and her Grammy-nominated hit “Walk On By”
“Still” a deep cut from Bain’s 2015 debut EP, “Pools To Bathe In” was the first in a three-song encore. The song was her debut track and premiered on Zane Lowe’s show when Bain was nineteen. The song features bewitching, layered harmonies which remain a driving sonic element in Bain’s music to date. It was such an experience to hear, in real-time, how her sound has matured. It was remarkable to think about how far Bain has come, both as a person and musician, as she faced the crowd donning a wide smile.
Bain’s latest release, “:)” (pronounced “smiley face”) fittingly made it on the setlist. Bain revealed that she wrote the song when she was talking to someone off a dating app and crushing hard, before even meeting her. Could it get any gayer? The answer is yes, actually. In a whirlwind, Bain hopped on a plane to Detroit to meet this girl, Alyssa, and now the two are engaged. Some stories do have happy endings! The song details a modern-day, long-distance romance; the lyrics: “Something’s happening / I feel happier” are so simple, yet so powerful in summing up how it feels to fall in love.
The night closed with “Sunshine Baby,” feeling very full circle (no pun intended). In this interview with the Standard, Bain says: “The title of the album comes from a lyric in a song called Sunshine Baby. ‘In the end it always does’ can mean a positive or a negative ending, the circle always repeats itself and life is just repetitive cycles that keep going. Life is about the new things that you’ve learnt within each cycle. You just keep going round and round.” It’s such a beautifully simple concept, Bain’s earnest words only make the album hit harder. Whether it be your first or one hundredth listen, In the End It Always Does is an album that includes something for everyone. Bain’s unique vocals, universal themes of love and loss, and spellbinding synthesizer allow the album to maintain its freshness over a year following its release.