The Japanese House – “:)”
Last year, the Japanese House released the lovely album In The End It Always Does. Since then, the indie-pop project of Amber Bain shared an ABBA cover, and today she’s back with the uplifting new ditty “Smiley Face.”
“‘Smiley Face’ is a song I wrote when I was very excited about talking to someone off a dating app,” Bain explained. “She lived in Detroit, and I was fantasising about flying to meet her. I was in a session at the time for someone else’s stuff, but I couldn’t help this song spilling out of me, I was in some sort of frenzy. Turns out I did buy the plane tickets, now we’re engaged.”
It was produced by Chloe Kraemer (Rina Sawayama, FKA Twigs) and George Daniel of the 1975, her labelmates and collaborators; Matty Healy contributed backing vocals to “Sunshine Baby” from In The End It Always Does. Bain says “Smiley Face” is her favorite song she’s ever written, so check it out below.