LIVE: The Japanese House @ XOYO

photo by James George Potter

The Japanese House, aka Amber Bain, is one of my favorite artists I’ve ever had to force to grow on myself. I won’t lie, it took me a few years before I actually really got into her stuff in 2019, but I haven’t looked back since. ‘Good at Falling’ is a god-tier album to me, and the newly released ‘In the End It Always Does’ is following closely behind.

Bain played an album release out-store show with Rough Trade on Friday 30 June. Coming onstage fashionably late, Amber played mostly old songs, which honestly was kind of a relief because it meant I actually knew the words and could sing along. Off the new album, she played the singles, as well as ‘Touching Yourself’. All instant hits to me. The setlist was back-to-back bangers! It’s been about 4 years since The Japanese House last played shows, and Amber was relieved to see that “the crowd somehow got even gayer.”