Dana Raer chatted with Amber Bain from The Japanese House ahead of their Tramlines performance.
Should fans expect any songs from your album Good at Falling? Which ones?
We’re playing mostly songs from the album- about 80 per cent of it would be album songs.
What’s your favorite track to perform live?
I really like performing ‘Follow my Girl’ because I like the bassline. I also really like performing a song called ‘Somebody You Found’ – I like performing the harmonies.
What inspires you most to write music?
I guess myself – so it’s my own internal dialogue and my relationships with other people. I am not very good or I don’t tend to write about other people’s experiences. I’m not really inspired by places or basically environments for some reason. So yeah, I’d say my personal relationships and my internal dialogue.
Do you find it difficult to be so honest in your songs, putting yourself out there?
Not really, no, it’s like when people go to therapy- I think people expect to go to therapy and walk away feeling pretty light once they got something off their chests, but actually for me it’s admitting certain feelings or how I feel, thoughts that I put into my songs. It’s torturous in some ways because I don’t really want to confront those things so once I get it out of the way, it is better.
Is it difficult for women to work in the indie pop genre?
I don’t know, I would say it is difficult for women to work in any field infested by men. It’s obviously kind of boring- if anything, it’s boring.
What artist do you enjoy listening to right now?
I’ve been listening to Holst “The Planets” which is seven songs by Gustav Holst that is like an ode to the planets. I’ve been listening to a lot of classical music lately.
What is your plan for after the summer?
Summer is just festivals. What else? I guess just writing for another album.
