CoSign is an accolade we use to put our stamp of approval on an up-and-coming artist or group who is poised for the big time. For June 2023, we’re highlighting Amber Bain’s project The Japanese House and her latest LP, In the End It Always Does.
It was at the end of the writing and recording process when Amber Bain began working on “Boyhood,” the first single off The Japanese House’s sophomore studio album, In the End It Always Does. But the song came about from some rather unorthodox inspiration: While working in the studio with producer Chloe Kraemer, the two stumbled across a video from the 2000s that featured a bunch of gay cowboys line dancing in front of The White House.
“Gay marriage wasn’t legal yet, and there must have been like 20 really sexy gay guys in cowboy hats and cowboy boots and little vests doing this really amazing dance,” Bain describes to Consequence over a video call. “It was both hilarious and heartbreaking; there’s something so powerful about the video. I showed it to my dad and he actually shed a tear… and then he just said, ‘It’s the courage of it all.'”
This resonated with Bain, who sought to imbue In the End It Always Does with a similar kind of spirit. Throughout the album, she cycles through themes of transformation, heartbreak, and queer identity; the music spans from funk-inflected pop to more naturalistic folk and country-esque arrangements, all highlighted by Bain’s warm, versatile vocals. She recruited label mates and previous collaborators Matty Healy and George Daniel of The 1975, MUNA’s Katie Gavin, and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, who help take Bain’s indie pop stylings to expansive territory without ever losing her touches of intimacy and personality.
The album’s title and asymmetrical cover art are intended to suggest a cyclical pattern — whether that be in relationships, personal identity, or in the presentation of the music itself. Bain designed the album to be continuously looped: the final song, “One for Sorrow, Two for Joni Jones,” culminates with synths and the whack of a drum stick, all leading back to the bubbling synths of the album’s opening number, “Spot Dog.”
“I think it’s a sign of progression,” she says, “Before, everything was straight lines. If you look at all the artwork that I chose, the press shots that I like, all the EPs and album covers… everything is straight, perpendicular lines. So it’s kind of funny to go from that to just an asymmetrical circle.” She confesses that while she’s generally drawn to “easy-to-process minimal imagery,” the cover art also mirrors the album’s thematic approach around gender and identity.
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“We were messing around a lot with gay symbolism and signifiers… like how gay men would often wear a handkerchief outside their jean pocket, and the color would signify whether they were a top or bottom. I think because of gender, I relate more to gay men and gay men imagery, and I kind of feel jealous a lot of the time. So we experimented with subverting gay male imagery and re-owning that as a lesbian or a gender queer person or whatever the hell you want to call me, I still haven’t figured that whole vibe out,” Bain says. It’s not the first time she uses the word “whatever” to define her gender — but on In the End It Always Does, she leans heavily into those grey areas.
