NOTE: All photos are copyright of Howard Shiau Photography 2025
It’s been six months since the Japanese House (aka Amber Bain) released her sophomore LP “In the End it Always Does”. Keeping in line with the somewhat depressing lyrical topics of her first album, the most recent record somehow makes these sad songs more upbeat and dance-able. “Sad to Breathe” is a perfect example. It makes you want to get up and dance but the lyrics make you want to cry. I can picture an audience doing both during a show! The first single off the album “Boyhood” is very introspective and speaks to Bain’s struggle with gender identity. The record is absolutely one of the best of 2023 and, as she reaches the end of her North American tour, Bain and company played to a capacity crowd at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on Wednesday, December 6th.
Joining the Japanese House on tour were Detroit singer/songwriter Ally Evenson and folk singer quinnie. The title of Evenson’s latest EP “In My Dreams, You All Laugh at Me”, released in August, pretty much tells you what you need to know about the music. I’m sad already just reading that title. With just her beautiful voice and a guitar in hand, she played a short but satisfying set.
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It seems like yesterday that we just saw the ethereal quinnie (aka Quinn Barnitt) at the Drake Underground back in May. It was just after she released her debut album “Flounder” and she played to a packed venue even then. There were many quinnie fans on hand this evening as well, singing along to her songs. With her light airy voice, she seems transported to another dimension even while her lyrics stay firmly grounded in the current space and time. Her lyrics speak very much to the teenaged Gen-Z experience and her enchanting voice make her seem even younger than her twenty-two years. She played a few unreleased songs during her set and I’m looking forward to a new record in 2024.
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The Japanese House kicked off their set with the previously mentioned “Sad to Breathe”. Bain and her band, draped in darkness and smoke, allowed you to close your eyes and hear the songs which sounded extremely close to the original studio versions. If anything, I would say her vocals are even a bit more emotive, especially in some of the slower songs. Bain has always had an aversion to photographs so the backlighting fits right into her aesthetic. It’s always interesting to see artists like the Japanese House live. Given the lyrical content of the music, I’m not sure I’d be able to perform these night after night in front of an audience. I suppose the practice helps to inure and shield yourself from exposing those emotions.
The seventeen song set comprised of eight songs from her latest studio album (as expected), five songs from her first LP “Good at Falling”, and three from her EP “Chewing Cotton Wool”. Much of the set had the capacity crowd singing along, not obnoxiously like at many shows nowadays, but a gentle singalong with Bain’s voice reaching out over the venue. Favorites of the evening include “Sunshine Baby”, which was the finale, and “Saw You in a Dream”. It’s hard to say that seventeen songs was too short a set but I’m sure many fans did not want the dreamy night to end.
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