While many people during the pandemic were searching for a partner on dating apps and experimenting with Zoom dates, Amber Bain — aka The Japanese House — found herself in a throuple. But in a time where the world felt like it was dissolving around her, Bain’s relationships were doing the same. Putting pen to paper and hand to synth, Bain penned her much-anticipated sophomore album In The End It Always Does, a follow-up to 2020’s 4-track EP Chewing Cotton Wood.
In The End It Always Does weaves snapshots of romantic turmoil with ruminations on trauma, identity, love, and loss. With enveloping production, Bain crafts a poignant dreamscape with her music and dances around her keyboard with expertise on songs like “Boyhood” and “Sad To Breathe.” The album also includes some excellent features, like MUNA’s Katie Gavin, who co-wrote “Morning Pages” and “One For Sorrow, Two For Joni Jones,” and Matty Healy, who provides backing vocals on “Sunshine Baby.”
To celebrate the release of In The End It Always Does, Bain sat down with Uproxx to talk Talking Heads, making a Sunday Roast, and sleeping at a motel where patrons were carrying guns (yes, really), in our latest Q&A.
What are the four words you would use to describe your music?
Gay, sad, hopeful and inward.
It’s 2050 and the world hasn’t ended and people are still listening to your music. How would you like it to be remembered?
I think the ideal way of being remembered would be like how people think of Talking Heads now… kind of poppy, but kind of cool. Like a gay Talking Heads.
What’s your favorite city in the world to perform?
San Francisco. The fans there are always batsh*t crazy and it’s a really fun show.
Who’s the person who has inspired your work the most and why?
George Daniel because I’ve been working on this project with him since the beginning. And it doesn’t sound like The Japanese House without him. I think that he’s such an integral part of the whole thing… he’s basically a band member at this point.
Where did you eat the best meal of your life?
Do you know what? I’m really good at making a Sunday roast, and I love making a really good Sunday roast with the best people. Oftentimes, in my house, we’ll have a house roast and I think those are the best meals of my life because it’s just the coziest feeling ever, and it’s the tastiest thing. It’s my favorite thing to eat, and also the feeling surrounding it is so good. It kind of just feels like Christmas every time.
What album Do you know every word to?
Avril Lavigne’s Let Go.
What was the best concert you ever attended?
That is so difficult… my top three would probably be Fleetwood Mac, Rosalía and probably my first ever gig that I went to, which was Blondie with my mom.
What is the best outfit for performing and why?
This is hard because when I feel like I can just wear a hoodie and jeans, I feel like I perform the best because I’m just so comfortable, and I can focus more on performing. When I feel a bit more styled, I feel less at home so I’ve really loved gigs where I’ve been like, “oh my god, I can’t decide what to wear.” So then I just kind of throw on a hoodie and jeans and I’m like, “cool, whatever.”
Okay, who is your favorite person to follow on Twitter and or Instagram?
I’m not really a big Twitter user, but I’ve gotten back into it because my girlfriend posts really funny tweets. So, she’s my favorite on Twitter. I’m going to expose her — it’s @breadlosing. And my favorite Instagram is probably Naomi from MUNA (@flurtcobain). Their stories are my favorite. They have such a good collection of memes.
What’s your most frequently played song in the bus on tour?
It would probably be “Know My Ting” by Ghetts or “Chalice” by Donae’o. We listen to a lot of UK Grime on the bus. Or… “Toxic” by Britney Spears.
What’s the last thing you Googled?
I googled something really weird actually. I was in the park, and there was this little bird that was going absolutely crazy. And I couldn’t figure out what kind of bird it was, and I figured out what bird it was then I just googled “Mistle Thrush acting weird.”
What album makes for the perfect gift?
Beach House’s Teen Dream.
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve ever crashed while on tour?
I don’t actually remember where it was, but it was this weird little motel and there was blood on the floor. The guests were carrying guns. There was this dog off the lead that looked like he was gonna murder us. But my FAVORITE place we’ve stayed on tour was this Airbnb in Oakland. This absolutely magical woman lives in the apartment downstairs, but she owned the whole building. And she was just a dream. I just loved her so much. And she would come upstairs every day with fresh orange juice from the garden, and I was like… “wow, this is bliss.” But overall, just being in a tour bus is really f*cking weird. You’re just kind of traveling in a coffin.
But what’s the story behind your first or favorite tattoo?
I have one tattoo, and I got it really recently. It’s my only tattoo and it’s just the letter A because my girlfriend and I, in like the first few months of dating, decided to get them. We’re both A names — she’s called Alyssa and I’m called Amber and so we both got little A’s that she drew. We were hanging around in LA and were like “let’s just get a tattoo right now on the motorcycle.” It’s just a cute little love tattoo, and I love having it.
What artists keep you from flipping the channel on the radio?
Really anything dancey — I actually just really love pop, and any kind of country music. But I would say… Beyonce, Caroline Polachek, and Charli XCX.
What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you?
My dad made me a bed, but it gets better… he basically made this bed when he was in his woodworking era. And he was putting the headboard on, and he was like “this is the best bit.” And he took these weird little metal ball bearings that are magnetic, and at the top of the bed there was a hole so he put the ball in and he made like these tubular bells out of a clothes rail and as the ball rolled down this little track, it hit these bells and it played the first lullaby that he wrote for me when I was a baby. I still have it, it was very sweet.
What’s one piece of advice you’d go back in time to give your 18-year-old self?
Don’t smoke. You’ll become addicted.
What’s the last show you went to?
Chappell Roan at The Garage in London.
What movie can you not resist watching when it’s on TV?
Eat Pray Love — anything with Julia Roberts in it I really worship.
Do you have any hidden talents?
I’m amazing at knowing not just dog breeds, but like exactly what a dog is mixed with. Like, if it’s a Whippet/Collie or a Great Dane/Staffordshire or something, I can always just know the mix. I don’t really know if that’s a hidden talent… also, I can do the worm really well.
In The End It Always Does is out now via Dirty Hit. Find more information here.
