As the (truly oppressive) heat of the day set in, we were treated to an utterly phenomenal set from The Japanese House, a British dream pop group led by the magnetic Amber Mary Bain. Supported by an exceptional band for this show, Bain took us gently by the hand and pulled us into her world.
Never afraid to get a little slow and sentimental, The Japanese House put on a show for swaying. The band mainly played tracks off their latest album, In the End It Always Does (Dirty Hit, 2023), which heavily features acoustic guitars, laid-back rhythms, stunning four-part harmonies, and of course, the captivating, perfectly imperfect vocals of Bain herself.
Vulnerable and stripped bare, there’s a careless gentleness to The Japanese House that comes across so plainly in a live setting. Each member of the band stays strictly in their lane, and yet the music comes flowing in like a friendly tidal wave—soft, sweet, and all-encompassing.
Bain radiates kindness in between tracks, truly seeming like she was happy to be there and share her songs. She even halted the show mid-song at one point when someone collapsed from heat exhaustion in the crowd, not restarting the show until she saw a medic reach the scene. Skill aside, these moments of compassion and gratitude only added to the measured beauty of the performance as a whole.
Photos by Benoit Rousseau
