Bastille Sounds Festival – Badaboum – Septembre 20th
The Japanese House, a moniker for London based solo artist Amber Bain’s musical project, has been so busy touring in the US, Asia and summer festivals since the launch of her debut LP in March 2019 that it was a rare treat to catch her in Paris at the Badaboum during the refreshing Bastille Sounds festival.
A proper live rendition of her sophisticated electronic pop was always going to be a challenge: anyone having listened carefully to the 4 EPs she started to record from 2015 at the young age of 20, as well as to her fantastic new LP Good At Falling, can only be struck by the creativity of the production, the richness of her sound palette and the ethereal, almost angelic, quality of her vocal harmonies. It is of course not pure chance: Amber is a precocious talent who apparently started to write songs when she was 8, who plays most instruments on her albums and has had time to perfect her production skills. But she has also enjoyed the presence around her of not less talented people: it is said that George Daniel, drummer of the now well established stadium-filling power pop band The 1975, convinced their own label Dirty Hits to take her on board and he has been closely involved with her as mentor and co-producer. The LP also benefited from the genius and distinctively creative touch of Bee J Burton, brillant producer of some of Bon Iver’s albums, also clearly recognisable in her music.
That being said, acoustic live versions of some of her work available on social media showed that the melodies and the structure of her songs held themselves solidly together even without the beautiful “decoration” of the recorded versions.
The choice of the festival organisers to have The Japanese House opening the evening despite global steaming statistics close to 9 times those of the headlining band may be slightly unexpected but it is actually a testimony of the lack of notoriety she still suffers from in Europe. Believe me, this shouldn’t last!…
Amber was accompanied by a very solid rhythm section, a drummer kept busy recreating the sometimes complicated lines of the original songs and a skilled bass player making creative use of his pedal board. This provided a strong foundation for her voice, her crystalline electric guitar (right handed instrument which she surprisingly plays with original stringing but as a left handed!), the atmospheric pad sounds of a (female) keyboard player and a wall of aerial backing vocals and harmonies.
After a recorded introduction and profusion of smoke effects, the 4 of them walked in on the stage and treated us to a lively version of early hit Face Like Thunder (subject of one of her first videos), Amber’s voice taking a few seconds to properly warm up.
It was the only song of older EPs as the band then went on to deliver a flawless and rich set of 5 more of the most played songs from the new LP. Even though there was palpable chemistry amongst the musicians, who quickly came to relax and clearly enjoyed playing to the small venue as testified some of the smiles they exchanged with each other, it is clear that Amber is the creative force and the centre of the formation. Despite her petite stature and her demure attitude on stage, she can rely on her now significant touring experience and the amazingly original quality of her songs to exude confidence and charisma, and she definitely has the aura of a rising star.
The too short half an hour set finished on a high with The Japanese House’s most played hit, Maybe You’re The Reason, performed with gusto and passion to an increasingly animated crowd.
Asked at the end of her gig how she found the time to write new music recently, Amber candidly confided she didn’t… yet it seems that she managed to make efficient use of her sparse rest time during summer to record a new EP and single which are planned to go out shortly.
We can’t wait to hear new music from the wonderful and talented Amber Bain!
Eric Busnel / Septembre 2019
Set list : Face Like Thunder / Worms / We Talk All The Time / You Seemed So Happy / Lilo/ Follow My Girl / Maybe You’re The Reason
Follow her on thejapanesehouse.co.uk/
