Amber Bain, better known as The Japanese House, has entered her pop era.
The 27-year-old Brit has finally returned with her second full-length album, “In the End It Always Does,” which comes four years after her debut album, “Good at Falling,” and three years since her last EP, “Chewing Cotton Wool.” Early success labeled Bain part of the “bedroom pop” movement, but as she’s evolved as an artist, she finds herself wanting to play instruments more and spend less time producing music on a laptop.
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“Musically, I’m much more open to making pop music. I really enjoy listening to pop music and I’m not shying away from that anymore,” she says of her new songs. “There’re still complex musical harmony arrangements on there, but I’m not trying to prove a point. I’m kind of just like, ‘That feels good, so I’m going to put that in it.’ I think there’s a kind of confidence that might come through from having my vocals really present and my lyrics really personal and intimate.”
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The record touches on a relationship she was in at that period during the pandemic, as part of a throuple that turned into a couple when one of the partners left. A few of the songs on the album are about that; the rest is about the journey of her relationship with the person she remained in a couple with.
“As I was finishing the album, we broke up, which was weird because I was writing these songs in real time,” she says. “Sometimes I’d come back to a song, I’d write half of it and then I’d come back to it like six months later and everything had changed. So the kind of the meaning of the song would evolve, like, the verses maybe I wrote toward the end of our breakup, and then I wrote the choruses when we were still trying to make it work.”
Bain was wrapping work on the album just as things were beginning to open up during the pandemic, creating a strange sensation of things both starting and ending.
“It felt like life was kind of becoming normal again, and I was simultaneously losing my relationship and that was kind of life ending. It was this weird period of loss, but also gaining a lot at the same time,” she says.
For the new songs, she’s worked with the likes of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Muna’s Katie Gavin, Matty Healy and George Daniel of The 1975, all close friends.
“I think I’m really lucky that I know so many amazing musicians. It’s nice when you finally become open to collaboration that you can make [music together]. I was like, ‘I need to take advantage of the fact that I know so many great players like singers and writers.’”
With the album now out, she’s revealed a North American tour set for this fall, kicking off in Philadelphia in November, and is already beginning to think about new songs. This time around, she’s considering trying a new approach.
“I just feel quite inspired. We’ve been making this album and finishing this album, and it has been inspiring for me. Like, I’ve kind of inspired myself in a weird way. I feel really happy with everything that I’ve done and I’ve figured out the math of what works. I feel like we’ve really just figured it out on this record. I know what I want to make and I know the feelings to follow and so I kind of just wanna keep on doing it,” she says. “And I’ve already written a few songs and am kind of excited about the direction that it’s gonna take. I hate to say it, but I think I might be making a happy album. I actually might try some happiness.”