The Japanese House to Release Sophomore Album 'In the End It Always Does'

The Japanese House (the acclaimed project of Amber Bain) has announced her highly anticipated sophomore album In the End It Always Does out Friday, June 30 on Dirty Hit alongside new single "Sad to Breathe."

Produced with the help from The 1975's George Daniel and Chloe Kraemer, the song sees The Japanese House working through heart break and exploring her pop side. The upbeat summer anthem for the brokenhearted opens with a cascade of pianos and evolves into a glorious, irresistible, danceable pop. Zane Lowe exclusively debuted the track earlier today as his New Music Daily pick on Apple Music alongside an interview with Amber.

Watch the beautiful accompanying live session video, directed by Sheila Johansson and featuring an alternate stripped back arrangement with Amber backed by an extended live band incorporating strings and piano. PRESS HERE to pre-save the album (full tracklisting below).

"I wrote 'Sad To Breathe' some time ago, it's one of the oldest songs on the record." tells Amber. "It was very different back then; it's gone from being solely electronic to what it is now, mostly live/ acoustic instrumentation. It's about that desperate feeling when someone leaves you and the disbelief that they could. It's funny you could have those kind of insane dramatic thoughts, that feel so real at the time, but can by some miracle look back in fondness to your entire life being ruined. It all circles back around."

In the End It Always Does came together just as one chapter in her life was falling apart, with each song almost acting as a snapshot in time. The album finds Amber exploring themes such as beginnings and endings, obsession and mundanity, falling in love and falling apart as she leans even further into the pop realm with help from Matty Healy and George Daniel (The 1975), Katie Gavin (MUNA) and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon among others. Amber credits Katie Gavin especially with injecting her with creative energy and inspiration throughout.

The album was produced and engineered by Chloe Kraemer (Rex Orange County, Lava La Rue, Glass Animals), an experience Amber describes as "life changing" due to the unspoken, shared understanding between marginalized genders in a creative space. "I'd never worked with a woman or queer person [in that way] before," Amber says. "It's nice to have someone who completely understands your standpoint and shared experience. Also, I say 'she' in every song... so it's important that someone understands that."

"[These two people] were together for six years and I met them and then we all fell in love at the same time-and then one of them left," she says of the album. "It was a ridiculously exciting start to a relationship. It was this high... And then suddenly I'm in this really domestic thing, and it's not like there was other stuff going on-it was lockdown."

Lead single "Boyhood," which was released last month, follows The Japanese House's lauded 2020 EP Chewing Cotton Wool, which featured the illustrious "Dionne" ft. Grammy-award winning songwriter Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver), as well as her critically acclaimed debut album Good At Falling (2019).

She's an alternative pop star for the modern age who is serving up vulnerable lyrics and down to earth, celestial songs that offer a reflection on love, loss, and personal identity. Her intimate, unique sound has propelled her to over 350 million streams on Spotify and garnered her major media praise from New York Times, W Magazine, Playboy, GQ, Nylon, The Fader, Pitchfork, Noisey, i-D, WWD and more.

Photo Credit: Jay Seba

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