Start Listening To: Japan Review
Scotland-based shoegaze duo talks mixing krautrock with modern electronica, marriage and the art of getting on with it.
Being in a band is like getting married. You end up sharing the most intimate and embarrassing moments with each other, create a safe space to escape into and go beyond. Genna and Adam know how incredible and intense is being both. It’s absolutely worth it. Japan Review, originally started as a side project, has been taking shape through the past couple of years and numerous collaborations. Their debut album, about to be out soon, Kvetch Sounds combines dreamy lo-fi sensibilities with experimental pop noise composed against Scottish streets. Let’s join Japan Review on a walk in a rain.
Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
GENNA: We’re Japan Review; Adam O’Sullivan and Genna Foden. We’re a wee electronic-y, shoegaze-y band from Scotland, I’m from Dumfries originally and Adam is from Manchester. We make noisy music with hazy guitars, synths and electronic drums.
How did it all start?
ADAM: Japan Review was originally a little side project I started. I was recording intermittently since 2014. There was always lots of collaboration and releases were usually made up of whoever was around at the time, but we really found our feet when it became a solid line-up of just me and Genna. It was at that point writing, recording and playing live became incredibly easy.
GENNA: In early 2019 Adam asked me if I wanted to play synth for a few live gigs after JUNO (Japan Review’s 2019 EP on Reckless Yes) came out. I thought it would be a fun but temporary thing. Fast forward three years!
If you were to describe your sound to someone who’d never heard you before, what would you say?
ADAM: I can never figure out what genre anyone is, to be honest. I’d say electronic music and krautrock have the biggest influence on how we put music together, but that might not really come out in how it actually sounds.
GENNA: I think it’s probably somewhere between dream pop, shoegaze and experimental noise pop.
How are you feeling about the release of your debut album Kvetch Sounds?
GENNA: We’re really excited to have people hear it. It’s been finished for a while and obviously, the last 18 months has been a really weird time for the music industry so it’s just nice to have it out there and we really hope people like it.
What’s it like working with the record label Reckless Yes?
ADAM: Pete and Sarah have been incredibly supportive of us as a band and when we gave them a finished album with little warning during the height of the pandemic, they got behind it straight away. It must have been such a challenging and uncertain time to run an independent label but they’ve navigated it with enviable calm and never strayed from the ethical, DIY ethos that makes them so different. They are both tireless, altruistic champions of DIY music and provide a lifeline for bands who might otherwise have struggled to find a home in an increasingly inaccessible music industry.
Can you tell us more about how you produce your music?
ADAM: We record everything ourselves at home. It gives us complete freedom to work at our own pace and try things that might not really work without the pressure of a ticking studio clock. Alex Smith - who I’ve been in bands with one way or another for the last decade - produced and plays bass on the record. He’s in Canada now, so it involves a lot of WeTransfer, but as someone with no formal musical training, it really helps to have someone who shares the same references and understands what we mean when we use all the wrong words.
What inspires your music?
ADAM: Inspiration is a funny thing. It seems to paralyse a lot of creative people who stick a golf club in the air hoping for lightning to strike. For me the most important thing is just getting on with it, building new ideas and focusing them into a project. Whenever I start something I know if I’m writing an EP or an album and I know when I want it to be finished. Beyond that, it just takes shape on its own.
GENNA: I listen to a lot of electronic music and contemporary classical composers such as Hauschka and Max Richter and find music like this highly emotive. I’ll sit down with the synth and the drum machine and just experiment a bit. The way we usually work is Adam will write a few sections of a song, give it to me, I’ll come up with drums and synth ideas and then we develop it from there in a live setting. We think and develop on our feet a lot and it seems to work.
Can you tell us something interesting about the band that doesn’t have anything to do with music?
ADAM: I don’t know if other people will find it interesting or not, but we’re married - which I guess is a bit unusual. People always ask how we can be in a band with each other, but ultimately bands are intense, you really need to get along and trust each other. Maybe people thinking about getting married should try being in a band first. I guess if it all goes badly wrong we might be a shoe-in to produce the ‘Rumours’ of shoegaze music.
What advice would you give for anyone trying to achieve a similar sound to your band?
GENNA: We both listen to lots of different genres of music. I think this is incredibly important when it comes to the writing and forming of ideas as it encourages us to approach things differently and not get stuck in the ‘safety zone’. So, I'd probably say-listen to lots of different artists of different genres. Experiment, make bold choices and be open to making mistakes. Don’t overthink it.
How has Scotland influenced your music?
ADAM: We’ve just moved up to Scotland after years in London and it's great to be here. I’m from Manchester originally, but growing up it was so noticeable with bands like The Twilight Sad, Mogwai and Frightened Rabbit just how much Scotland values and promotes its own music scene. Our first gig in Glasgow just confirmed what we were always told - Scottish crowds are great.
GENNA: I’m from Scotland originally and am really enjoying being back, it’s allowed us more time and space to create our studio set up. It’s great to be surrounded by countryside again as it’s given us the headspace to really delve into more writing.
If your band were a film or TV show which would it be?
ADAM: I tend to like the sort of TV and films that aren’t really about anything, in much the same way our songs are not really about a ‘thing’ but more about creating an atmosphere. So I guess we’d be like one of those films or TV shows that are about nothing. I’m thinking more Lost In Translation than Seinfeld - though Alex is still gunning to have some slap bass on the next record.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s important to you?
GENNA: Duplex by Apparat. It’s a stunning example of how organic and poetic electronica can be. I hadn’t really heard anything quite like it at the time and Sasha Ring’s use of soundscapes is amazing and he’s still one of my favourite artists. I think the drums on Granular Bastard are some of the best ever composed.
ADAM: It’d have to be In Rainbows. I remember it coming out and being the first album that really made me want to write music. Radiohead are such a good blueprint for bands who want to challenge themselves and retain autonomy without wallowing in obscurity.
What do you hate right now?
GENNA: I’m not overly enamoured with the rain in Scotland but Adam loves it. Think he’s probably the only person to move to Scotland for the weather!
What do you love right now?
ADAM: I recently listened to a podcast with Cate le Bon where she talked about having a pygmy goat as a child that she led around with a piece of bread. I’ve thought about that wholesome image an awful lot since...
What comes next in the Japan Review story?
GENNA: We’ll be getting out and playing ‘Kvetch Sounds’ to as many people as we can in 2022.
ADAM: We’re also due to finish recording the second album this month, which is already sounding great. Towards the end of this year we also have time slated to finish a much more experimental electronic album for our other project The News Channel.
Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
ADAM: It seems a bit obvious, but I suppose I’d say people reading this should support independent music if they like it. I don’t just mean our music. But if you can afford to buy music then it makes a difference. If you don’t like buying physical music or downloads you can go and see a band live or buy a t-shirt. It’s never been easier to make music, but it's never been more difficult to function as a band or artist. There will always be great music, but if people don’t support bands early on, they shouldn’t be surprised if great things are harder to find among the rubble.