The Japanese House - Sister

In the short time following Zane Lowe’s final Hottest Record endorsement, The Japanese House – aka Amber Bain - has garnered such attention that the forthcoming debut EP feels like one from an established name rather than a mystic London teenager. Latest cut ‘Sister’ - the final track from the EP to be aired - shows Bain at her barest. With the sometimes swampy or shattering interjections of previous tracks left to one side, it’s the vocals that take up centre stage on this serene showcase.

Its thirty-second prelude a shy yet knowing enticement, it’s an opening that shimmers like a secret invitation through a hidden doorway. Once you’re in, there’s no escaping, as the tender progressions swell; reserved yet undeniably absorbing. Though ‘Sister’ produces gentle washes rather than fully-fledged waves, it still sounds blissful as Bain’s intense accounts float above the haze. It’s a wonder that something this sparse can also be so exhaustingly gripping, but the balance of turmoil and tranquillity that’s put forward on ‘Sister’ is so human it’s difficult to not be tied down by it.