As a mega fan of the 1975, I was always aware that Jamie Oborne, their manager, founded Dirty Hit Records so they could get their names out there and release their music without losing any creative liberty or being pressured to adhere to a strict and intense deadline. Dirty Hit expanded, adding more artists to its family, and one of them is the Japanese House. 20-year-old Amber Bain is the creative powerhouse behind the mysterious and unrevealing band name, and with production help from Matty and George (the 1975), she has produced and released two EPs. Just to make things clear: She writes her own songs, she has the idea behind the production, Matty and George simply help her -- the credit is mainly hers, and even though she came to Dirty Hit because her friend was dating Matty a few years ago, her music and fame are nothing but hers. The Japanese House, along with Wolf Alice, opened up for the 1975 in their US tour this spring, and when I heard her music for the first time I was taken aback by how amazing it is -- it’s honest, deep, creative, enthralling, mysterious, and addictive. If that wasn’t enough for me to convince you to listen to her songs, here are a few other reasons why the Japanese House should make its way onto your playlist right now:
1. Amber is deeply dedicated to her music, having started writing songs when she was less than 10 years old.
2. Her lyrics are simply amazing.
"I'm the scars upon your knees, I'm the scrapes of iron your skin breathes, I could be anything" ("Teeth")
"You know I wouldn't give you up, but baby, I don't want that" ("Still")
"I'm a sugar coated pill and I'm a pick me up and put me down again" ("Sugar Pill")
"Current come pull me down, I don't wanna take a breath I wanna drown" ("Letter by the Water")
"I knew it wouldn't last but in the clean light you cast I was good" ("Clean")
3. She hasn’t released a full-length album yet, so there’s still time for you to catch up on all of her songs before it hits the market.
4. Matty cried to her songs. Enough said.
5. Amber is a sweetheart.
At the show I went to in Miami, there was this girl in the audience (who was sitting pretty close to me) who danced frantically throughout Amber’s set. When she was done performing, Amber came to the audience so she could thank the girl for being so supportive and spent about 10 minutes taking pictures with fans and just being the sweetest human being alive (she left literally two minutes after I got there to take a picture with her).
Also just look at her.
6. Her music videos are simple but beautiful.
7. Zane Lowe premiered her single "Still" as his last Hottest Record in the World on Radio 1.
(So she’s already been written into Radio 1 history; this is important.)
8. The story about how her band name came along is very interesting.
Amber was on holiday with her family and decided she wanted to dress like a boy for a week. The girl from the house next door from the one she was renting fell in love with Amber (or the boy she was pretending to be) and after the week was over, she told the girl who fell in love with her she was actually a girl. The girl was heartbroken. It turns out that the house Amber had rented for the holiday was Kate Winslet’s house, and it was called the Japanese House.
9. She is still young and has so much to offer and so many more amazing songs to compose.
She’s only 20. That’s one year older than me. Talk about talent.
10. She plays her guitar upside down.
11. All pictures on her EPs were taken by her in Iceland.
She knows what she’s doing, and most importantly, she cares a lot about her art.
