The Japanese House - Good at Falling (March 3, 2019) Album • Page 6

I’m getting some strong Muna vibes throughout this. Sensational stuff.

 

Decided to check this out after seeing Riley from Thrice post about it and fuck am I glad I did. We Talk All the Time is way too good.

 

WORMS

 

Ya this is currently my aoty. It’s going to be hard to top this one for sure.

 

I’d love for her to work with Brad Hale in the future

 

Oh my this is fantastic

 

I know we’re only two months into the year so this means very little, not to mention it’s only been a couple of days with this, but this is definitely my runaway favorite of the year so far

 

I can’t believe the production on this record, it’s legitimately masterful.

 

if I had to describe this record with one word I would go with “cinematic.”

 

The Japanese House interview: ‘If people think I’m using my sexuality, then so be it. Let’s f**king use it’

An interesting, if not worrying thing to read. I have so much respect for her. That kind of openness is admirable. It’s scary that arguably a hell of a lot of people, myself included, can relate to so many of the dark, sad things Amber brings up here.

 

She's refreshingly honest. I appreciate that she is just like yeah I'm fucking a woman, taking meds, being self-destructive, and relationships are fragile and nothing is permanent. Yeah some of those are pretty heavy things but she's not censoring herself for anybody's comfort. I honestly relate to a lot that she is talking about, and I respect that she's just like here is all of me, decide for yourself how you feel, I don't care.

I'm also like, really really happy she decided to use she/her pronouns when writing and be open about her sexuality because more representation is so important!

 

Yeah this thing is special

 

I can finally sit down and write some thoughts out about this album.

I've been waiting for Amber to put out a full length for a couple of years now. I've been admittedly desperate for it, because her music ignites this furious hunger for more and more of her work and I always felt like the short EP's were never enough. This full length is everything I ever wanted and more. Her moody and atmospheric work really shines in the full length because it allows you to be taken along for the ride. It's completely mesmerizing and engaging and often hopelessly depressing and endlessly romantic in a way that gets my full buy in; I listen because I want to go there, as much as it hurts.

went to meet her (intro) is such a dark place to start this album. It creates this intensely somber mood that establishes a tone, and then just as you're falling in the song slows down and kind of sounds like it's rewinding at the end and it almost feels like the album is saying "it's not time for that yet" and then it goes into Maybe You're the Reason, which given the floaty feeling of the song really eases that initial tension. Though MYTR and We Talk all the Time sound lighter, Amber's lyrics betray the tone, something pretty common in her work but that nonetheless contributes to the dreamy feeling her music elicits.

Wild is so trance like, the monotonous vocal layers really kind of numb me out. In talking abut the lyrics of Wild, Amber says she used to have tantrums as a teenager where she would smash things and kind of leave her body; this song hit home much more after hearing that as I have suffered from dissociation and would look down on myself doing destructive things and it gave me such a different perspective on the song.

You Seemed so Happy is probably relatable to so many of us; it's amazing how well we can hide our suffering, even as we are completely falling apart there's this incredible ability we can pull out that puts on a smile for the world. It's almost frustrating that those closest to us can be so fooled, but the act is often very convincing.

Follow My Girl still gets me even after listening to it non stop since she put it out. I still think it's one of her best. The layers are so intentional and well done. The idea of looking at (or overlooking) our flaws is an often explored theme but Amber's lyrics are some of my favorite here and really kind of paint an image of what her self-reflection looks like. Also you know you're talented when the best person to harmonize with is yourself, and Amber's harmonies are particularly magical here.

somethingfartoogoodtofeel ...ugh the guitar + string combos here. And then when the percussion kicks in, I swear it's almost too much. The production on this album is insane. The way elements in the song are brought forth so powerfully and then drawn back is such a roller coaster. This is throughout the whole album but this song in particular really has so many things going on that pulls me in a bunch of different emotional directions.

The instrumentals going into Lilo are so calming, I really want to sit on a beach and hear that for eternity. Lilo feels like the most peaceful song on the album. The song is about meeting someone who was just who you needed at the time, someone who invokes serenity in you. Even though she wrote the song as the relationship with this person was ending, there's this peacefulness in it, this resignation that even when things don't work out, this person was entirely who they had needed at the time and that is not negated even though the relationship ended. I think this is a powerful message that is often lost in life - when things end it's harder to see the positives than it is to be embroiled in the pain of the ending. But there is power in acknowledging how important something was at the time.

Everybody Hates Me absolutely destroys me. I really need to learn the piano part of this song, I just dig it so much. Up in my head / I'm the only one around / Cause somehow / Everybody hates me now...as somebody who lives almost constantly stuck in my own damn head it’s amazing how you can spin an entire reality that almost becomes self-fulfilling. And then in the 3rd verse she realizes…I’ve over-extended / Replaced all of my friends with a linen sheet, a take-away box / And an incomplete crossword block. Everybody probably doesn’t hate her, but the isolation that comes along with those feelings pushes people away and brings into reality every insecurity you were nursing in your head.

Marika Is Sleeping sounds like a summer song. Actually this whole album will be a really great sad summer album I feel, the use of harps/mellotron on this song really kind of add to that vibe though.

Worms is really hard to center for myself as some of the lyrics are hitting particularly close right now. I think it's one of those songs that hits harder and harder every time I hear it. I'll leave it at that.

The album closes quietly with f a r a w a y and i saw you in a dream. I love that the tail end feels like winding down instead of crescendo-ing into a big ending like is often the case. I think it really works in this case. Sometimes that kind of ending can fall flat for certain artists, but to me it kind of feels like slowly waking up from a dream, given the nature of the rest of the album.

Listening to this album has been a process. The first listen was kind of this frantic desperation to hear the whole thing at once - I often get like this when it's a hugely anticipated album for me, I can hardly take a song in before becoming excited for the next one. It takes another 2 or 3 playthroughs to actually gather coherent thoughts together. I've not listened to a single other thing this weekend besides this album and I still find myself catching different things with each listen. I have a feeling there's a lot more emotional work to do with this album, thoughts and feelings subject to ebb and flow regarding what I've said here given that it's still raw and new to me but I also can't wait to feel like this album fits like an old pair of my favorite Vans because it feels like an album that will be timeless for me. I'm so excited to see her twice in May, and looking to maybe add another date or two if I can because I'm just utterly entranced by her.

 

this rules

 

Yea this is my favorite thing I’ve heard in a long time.

 

this sounds alot like charlift

 

"wild" is so good

 

Chairlift always gave me Imogen Heap vibes and this does the same. The end of the intro kind of feels like I Belong in Your Arms is about to start playing lol.

 

This reminds me a lot of the last Now, Now album. A bunch of sad bops that REALLY get me in my feels.

 

Really enjoyed reading this. Thanks!

 

I'm glad someone enjoyed my brain dump! :)

 

Man I miss Chairlift. It hasn’t even been that long since Moth but knowing we’re not getting any more stings

 

That’s what it is!!! Been trying to place it all day and couldn’t figure it out but this is it chief!!

 

beyond that I hear shades of a lot of modern female pop acts that all come together for something wholly unique and new. I hear Charli, Sia, Sky Ferreira, Haim, etc in the DNA of these songs