Live Review: The Japanese House ‘Clean' (Official Video)

THE JAPANESE HOUSE (AKA the elusive 19 year old Amber Bain) has been busy in her debut year. She has just dropped the title track from her upcoming second EP Clean, along with a wistful, summer vibing, video, ahead of her second EP release in just a few months.

Clean EP will be the second EP from The Japanese House this year, having released her debut Teeth EP a few months ago. Listening to the opening, vocoder synthed, vocals of ‘Clean’, you may be excused for thinking The Japanese House featured a male vocalist, and multiple members, however it is just 19-year-old Amber Bain taking on singer/songwriter/producer duties (with some help from Matthew Healy and George Daniel from The 1975).

The track opens with an 80’s oriental sound combined with brooding saxophone. As it progresses, and the vocals become clearer and cleaner, the sound also changes to a more modern electronic influenced sound. The sound itself certainly works with its title ‘Clean’, as though the change in the sounds is a metaphorical representation of The Japanese House stepping out of a cave or body of water having been cleaned within.

The video is kind of like the moving image version of a Vscocam influenced Instagram account. The images all have a haze over them and fade into each other, it has a very dreamlike feel. Keen eyes will recognise Berlin as part of the backdrop as the track moves between urban and green landscapes. This clip seems to share a message of doing your own thing, being ‘Clean’ of the confines of society that may squash you, but it is also a message of having fun, go on a journey, get on a skateboard, play some ball. Good timing for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, just emerging from the murky cloud of winter.

The four track Clean EP is due out on November 6 through Dirty Hit Records. Keep an eye on The Japanese House’s Soundcloud, she is one to watch.

Words by Madeline Kilby

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SEE ALSO:

THE JAPANESE HOUSE ‘SISTER’

THE JAPANESE HOUSE ‘TEETH’

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