The Japanese House with quinnie and Ally Evenson
Metro
Chicago, Illinois
December 3rd, 2023
For the first time since the ancient age of pre-COVID, English indie pop artist Amber Bain, better known as The Japanese House, made her return to Chicago in the final week of her North American tour with support from Ally Evenson and quinnie. The tour celebrates her 2nd full length record “In the End It Always Does” released this past summer via Dirty Hit, the independent record label founded by Jamie Oborne of The 1975. The album sports a stark display of separation and heartache as experienced conjunct a queer identity, offering listeners a cathartic journey within the assortment of synthy pop ballads – A sound that Bain’s fans have grown accustomed to, elevated through her most contemporary lens.
Sold out on a Sunday night, Metro packed quickly from wall to wall while Ally Evenson opened up the show, turning it over to quinnie after a short but powerful set of acoustic songs. quinnie’s stage setup was familiar and casual – The singer/songwriter and her bandmates played their set seated on stools with blankets draped over them. quinnie sat crosslegged as she strummed her acoustic songs, and being in the audience felt like sitting on the living room floor at a friend’s place while they softly play guitar.
Later in the evening, The Japanese House took the stage at last opening with Sad to Breathe, the first single that was released from the new record. Bain showed up in double denim, playing her Fender Stratocaster Kurt Cobain style – Flipped around with chords inverted in order to play left handed with a traditional right handed guitar. She and her band delivered a flawless performance, weaving between songs from across the years while the crowd moved with the music, phones up in the air to capture a snippet of some of her most well-known songs like I Saw You in a Dream and Maybe You’re the Reason. One might be able to reasonably predict to see The Japanese House plastered on festival lineups in 2024, but only time will tell.
