columbus, ohio - july 29, 2024

Stepping on stage to join an endlessly cheering crowd of fans, The Japanese House immediately radiated with an electrifying burst of sunshine while kicking off a recent show at Newport Music Hall in Columbus, Ohio. Opening with the fan favorite track “Touching Yourself,” the energy was high and jump started the show with fans singing along, dancing with one another, and enjoying the gorgeous arrays of lighting that filled the room. Amber Bain, the brilliant mastermind behind The Japanese House, could not have chosen a better start to her show; she immediately resonated with the crowd as a result of her unparalleled enthusiasm as well as the vulnerable lyrics that lay under the fun-loving sonic exterior of “Touching Yourself.”

The Japanese House continued on the audience’s morale by heading straight into “Sad to Breathe,” a track that begins as a whimsically somber ballad that quickly shifts into upbeat synth pop perfection. Bain and her band delivered this track excellently in their live rendition, capturing every essence of yearning and growing that The Japanese House investigates as she sings “‘Cause you’re right and I’m trying / To change myself, but it’s tiring / And I go to bed and I’m crying / ‘Cause it’s sad to breathe the air when you’re not there.”

Throughout the entirety of the live performance, deep emotion echoed in equilibrium between The Japanese House and her audience; Bain has a profound ability to naturally connect with her music and spill out every ounce of passion through her vocals and guitar playing. The sentimental performance of “Morning Pages” felt like closed eyes and the gentle graze of a summer breath, serving as a tender reminder of the feelings of youth and nostalgia. Gentle recollection in “Morning Pages” set the tone perfectly for “Follow My Girl,” where The Japanese House balanced her dreamy synths with a glitchy and eclectic edge to completely enrapture the crowd of her journey to find the path of life she’s meant to follow. The musical fervor of Amber Bain is rare, and the way she implemented her emotions into her performance made the entirety of the show feel personal and powerful.

“Boyhood” marked another significant highlight of the show, demonstrating the versatility and complexity of The Japanese House’s vocal performance. Gliding through notes with a silky smooth voice, Bain sounds both ethereal and commanding while she sings her story. On tracks like “Boyhood” especially, she resolves many of her lines with a certain tinge of rasp that gives her performance the perfect folky flair as well as a moving sense of rawness within her performance. Her graceful vocals captured the hearts and minds of the entire audience during her show in Newport, attesting to how Amber Bain is destined to be on stage.

The setlist for the North American 2024 Tour spans The Japanese House’s entire career, showcasing her newest songs as well as tracks all the way back from her debut EP, Pools To Bathe In. The reinvention of many of her older tracks on stage translated perfectly alongside the slightly more folky style of her latest album, In the End It Always Does. The live performance of “Worms” was particularly remarkable, blending the electric feel of the track with smooth saxophone and rich bass that was simply chill-inducing. The delicate yet explosive “Dionne” also showcased some of the strongest from the band, harboring a rich sonic symphony of electronics, indie rock instrumentation, and layered vocals that left the audience stunned and begging for more.

And The Japanese House did not fail to deliver even more, performing three more tracks for the show’s encore. Bain continued to tug at the heartstrings with a tear-jerking performance of “Still,” continuing her exploration into a magnificent sweet spot of live performance that brought her tracks fully to life. She then went on to perform her recently released summer anthem, “:)”. Switching to a more cheerful note of falling in love, lovebirds fluttered all throughout the venue. As Bain shares the story of meeting her girlfriend, it’s hard to resist blushing and feeling that sensation of falling for someone just as if you were in her shoes. “:)” is the romantic summer anthem that everyone needs within their lives, and the reverberation of pure serendipity of love lingered throughout the entirety of Newport as she played the track.

The show concluded with a performance of the cathartically comforting “Sunshine Baby;” while fans definitely will feel sad to breathe the air without The Japanese House there, “Sunshine Baby” closed the show with the musical embrace of a warm hug and a reminder that “in the end, it always does.” While Bain may have ended the show by singing “Hold on to this feeling ‘cause you won’t feel it for long,” her live performance was simply unforgettable and will be remembered by fans for years to come.

The Japanese House continues to tour across North America with a few more shows coming up in the first half of August, including dates in Boulder, San Francisco, and Seattle. You can purchase tickets for these dates here.