Album Review: In The End It Always Does | The Japanese House
When is she going to collab with Japanese Breakfast?
Amber Bain, or The Japanese House, is an English indie-pop musician from Buckinghamshire. Recently, we stumbled across her new album released in June entitled In The End It Always Does. Don’t sweat it if you’ve never heard of The Japanese House. She is new to both of us too. You can still hold your “I’m super indie and cool and different” badge because we’re giving you the inside scoop as her career progresses.
Now I’m sure some readers have known of her since her first single was released in 2015. Bare with us here as we dive into her background. Amber began making music under the pen name The Japanese House to not be defined by her gender or expression and her desire to avoid the public eye. The name comes from a traditional Japanese Tea House in England where she and her family frequently vacationed during childhood.
In 2012, a friend of Bain introduced her to the King of Rats himself, Matty Healy (We say this in love). From then on, Bain began working closely with the members of the 1975 and signed to their label Dirty Hit.
A decade later, we arrive at In The End It Always Does, which at its core feels just like a 1975 album from a production lens. This album was created primarily with The 1975’s George Daniel but also featured collaborations from Justin Vernon, Charli XCX, MUNA, and Matty Healy.
This album is in its best form when the writing and the production could not be more different. Heart-wrenching lyrics describe pain and brokenness alongside an upbeat, sunny production. In particular, heartbreaking lyrics from Sad To Breathe and Sunshine Baby describe Bain’s depressive nighttime routine, “And I go to bed, and I’m crying, cause it’s sad to breathe the air when you’re not there” and sorrow from reminiscing on an ex “It makes me wanna die every time I have to picture your face.”
Don’t worry; this album still has its fair share of “depressing and slow” if that’s what you want. One for sorrow, two for Joni Jones, and an Indexical reminder of a morning well spent are prime examples of this. Bain apparently cried recording its vocals, so if you cry too, you’re in good company! The strings and guitar blended with the electronic weirdness will keep this album fresh for years to come.
Check out our favorite tracks, listen to the album, and see our scores below:
Can’t Miss: Sad To Breathe, Sunshine Baby, Touching Yourself, Boyhood
You Can Skip: Friends, Indexical Reminder of a Morning Well Spent
BY THE NUMBERS
Bennett’s Score: 6.6
Carson’s Score: 7.3
Album Score: 13.9
We’ve updated our All-Time Album Rankings page. Stay tuned for more updates with the overall songs coming soon!
Here are our all-time top albums featured on Pop Lobster.
Funk Wav Bounces, Vol 1 | Calvin Harris | Score: 16.60
Speak Now | Taylor Swift | Score: 15.68
the record | boygenius | Score: 14.48
AUSTIN | Post Malone | Score: 14.41
Sunburn | Dominic Fike | Score: 14.33
Endless Summer Vacation | Miley Cyrus | Score: 14.00
**In The End It Always Does | The Japanese House | Score: 13.92**
Barbie: The Album | Various Artists | Score: 13.88
Gag Order | Kesha | Score: 13.77
UTOPIA | Travis Scott | Score: 12.79
The Album | Jonas Brothers | Score: 12.67
Stick Season | Noah Karan | Score: 12.43
Notes from Bennett:
So, immediately, this album is good, I recognize that, it’s just not my cup of tea. For me, the most interesting thing about this record was the neat descriptions of each track. Without them, I would not be able to decipher what Amber is really getting at here. That said, I liked most of the themes here although how many sad songs about lockdown can get written.
One for Sorrow, Two for Joni Jones Is the best song on the record, the writing is more honest & direct but still very good and I think it completes the album’s theme of “circulation” well sonically.
Maybe because I lack knowledge of this album's predecessor Good at Falling, I’m not totally tracking here on its theme of circularity & relationships. Not helping is the lack of substantive lyrics in a majority of the songs
Boyhood is really really cool from the genre-bending perspective. I can totally hear this as a club dance track.
Notes from Carson:
Touching Yourself is such an earworm. Once it clicks, you can’t stop listening.
As a Matty Healy apologist, I love Sunshine Baby. It’s the perfect end-of-summer drive song with a hint of salt air and the rust on your door. RIP to the music we could have gotten from Matty & Taylor.
So many of these songs have like no lyrics but still deliver such an effective message or feeling by its production. I’m impressed by Friends, Spot Dog, and You Always Get What You Want simple lyrics.
Spot Dog is giving DVD Menu for Phoebe fans out there.
Sad To Breathe is such a bop.
Justin Vernon worked on Over There and I literally think he sampled his own work on My Eyes by Travis Scott a month later. Also a highlight on this album.
The slow songs are hard for me to get through personally. They always are. Gotta keep my attention with a beat. Sorry!
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