Good At Falling- The Japanese House

The Japanese House is an English indie pop act from Buckinghamshire consisting of solo artist Amber Bain. Bain is a multi instrumentalist who contributes vocals and plays guitar, synthesizer and keyboard for her music. Her debut album ‘The Japanese House’ is one that cements her place as one of the upcoming artists in scene. ‘Good At Falling’ is gorgeous and dreamy while being extremely vulnerable and close to her heart. Perhaps the beauty of the album stems from this vulnerability portrayed by Bain through her music. The album’s catchy sounds come from the choruses for which the influence can be traced from her labelmates ‘The 1975’.

Let’s take a look at what makes this record rise from a bedroom pop record to much more than that: 

• Maybe You’re The Reason: The song focusses on depression and the feeling that nothing has any real meaning. The chorus turns this around, with the idea that maybe loving someone is the reason you live. The production work from George Daniel here is beautiful and the song elevates to a surreal space when the instrumental break comes in. The instruments are given the space to breath and each one shines individually 

• We Talk All The Time: The lack of physical intimacy is a problem a lot couples face, which leads to their eventual breakup. Over a stellar production, Bain talks about just that. The spacy synths and the hard-hitting drums make this an immersive experience. 

• Wild: we all have a wild side amongst us hidden somewhere deep inside waiting for its time to crawl out and destroy what we’ve created. The song is about feeling detachment from a side of yourself that is destructive. The drums shine throughout the songs showing how much effort has gone into mastering these songs. 

• You Seemed So Happy: this song is about putting a mask on for the world. Amber’s public persona is different from her private life. She puts on a happy face for the world but is sad on the inside. This song will resonate to a lot of us because somewhere every one of us is doing that in someway or the other. 

• Lilo: Bain’s vocal shines in a beaming light in this cut. Such a beautiful, melancholic track that is going to leave you introspecting a lot of things. I love the percussions that the production brings on which paves the way for the bass and the guitar. A beautiful track to say the least.

• Everybody Hates me: the song features dreamy synths and gives you a feeling that you’re floating around. Amber is in deep depression and feels like the world is against her. All odds stacked against she doesn’t know where do go. A sinking feeling prevails and leaves her depressed. 

• Worms: the 1975 influence can be clearly seen on this song because George Daniel from the band has handled the production on this cut. A song that’s going to leave you head bopping as soon as the drums hit, this one is a classic. 

• f a r a w a y: the bass guitar and Matt Healy’s heavenly voice gives a different dimension to this song. A song about increasing distance between a couple, a relationship that is drifting apart, this is probably the best song on this project. 

From the upbeat production to the meaning behind the lyrics, this album truly captivates its audience. The album flows perfectly from one song to another and should be listened to in one go from the top to bottom. Everyone listening to this will take something out of one of the songs and feel a sense of longing after listening to it. I would highly recommend you to check this out.