THE JAPANESE HOUSE SHARE BRAND NEW SUMMERY SINGLE ‘SMILEY FACE’

SINGLE REVIEW | THE JAPANESE HOUSE – SMILEY FACE by Martha Munro

The summer single is a hard one to get right. Every year, a wave of breezy new hit-hopefuls washes over June and July and they can often blend into one another. But this year, The Japanese House – AKA Amber Bain – might have cracked it with her brand new, sun-soaked single Smiley Face.

After meeting The 1975’s front man Matty Healy in 2012, Bain began producing music under the record label Dirty Hit with the help of Healy. Her first single Still premiered on BBC One in 2015 and was a critical success. Leading to more single and EP releases smattered across the next nine years and a plethora of subgenres such as dream-pop, folktronica and indie-pop. Smiley Face, released 18th June 2024, is The Japanese House’s first new material since last year’s album, In The End It Always Does, and EP ITEIAD Sessions. The perfect sunny summer driving song that showcases the artist’s most distinctive features as well as her sonic growth over the course of her career.

The track kicks off with an immediate sense of fullness through the use of acoustic guitar layering. The rippling riffs are folky, cohesive and harmonious yet diverse enough to provide the listener with a brief introduction of everything they’ve yet to hear throughout the song. A gentle crescendo precedes the entrance of the drums which establish a basic yet complimentary pattern that the guitar just rushes over; a laid-back, beachy introduction. Bain’s magnetic vocals then enter this dreamy tapestry with romantic lyrics that seem to be hurrying over bars with excitement and urgency. This builds up the track’s artistic image of a thrilling and heartfelt love that the singer just can’t get enough of. Her voice itself is smooth and organic, reminiscent of Katie Gavin, the lead singer of American pop band MUNA with whom The Japanese House are close friends.

The following first chorus only heightens this vocal spotlight as Bain’s signature use of vocal layering brings the song’s soft textures to a height with an almost vocoder-esque quality. However, the lack of actual artificiality here helps to maintain the natural, easy sound in the production, opening up the chorus rather than transforming the sound completely. This creates room for even more sonic layering, which is filled with quiet percussion and subtly varying guitar licks that carry us effortlessly into the second verse.

While the elements of the song don’t develop much throughout, the combinations of motifs in both the vocal melodies and instrumentation are irresistibly chosen to create a sense of dreaminess that takes the listener on a journey through the pop and the indie, the bright and the soft, the sun and the sea. Bain draws it to a close by reducing the track to just two acoustic guitar layers, one playing out a familiar strumming pattern and the other producing some final plucking droplets of sound to well and truly send us into the sunshine season.

The Japanese House has never hidden her clear and impressive musical evolution, with roots in countless patches of soil, blossoming in every new place. But there is no doubt that her growth has reached a defining point with this catchy, cool new single that will go straight onto your summer playlist.