Nineteen year old London artist Amber Bain under alias The Japanese House oozes scintillating electronic rhythms and exquisite melody sewn together with ever ascending “oooh’s” in latest ambient EP Clean, featuring collaborations with The 1975’s Matt Healy and George Daniel. Following the acclaim of debut EP Pools To Bathe In and the honour of being Zane Lowe’s last ever Hottest Record on Radio 1, Bain’s second EP ensures her refreshingly unique electronic pop success continues to captivate listeners and entrance.

Opener and title track ‘Clean’ infuses a myriad of layered harmonising vocals to detail the agonising experience of falling for a close friend without reciprocated feeling: “And I knew it wouldn’t last/ But in the clean light you cast/ I was good”. Subtlety is key throughout Clean, no more so than with later number ‘Cool Blue’ featuring tentative guitars and distinctive Bain vocals combining to voice disbelief at the unswaying devotion of the individual of the tracks focus (“How can you wait in the wash of the rain?/ You’re soaked to your feet/ Still, you said you’d wait for me “).

Surges of guitar melody build in ‘Letter By The Water’ work alongside lyrical imagery of submersion (“Current come pull me down/ I won’t take a breath, I wanna drown”) to produce a cohesive work of simmering climaxes. Final number ‘Sugar Pill’ ends the bathe with tranquillity in a more defiant and violent scene (“They caught me by the ankles and they shook me out”), contrasting effectively, although still home to characteristic waves of sound and staccato synths.

Clean offers listeners the opportunity dip one’s head into the water, washing over and engulfing the listener in ethereal synths, to sample a 4 track indication of future promise, released November 6th via Dirty Hit.

Jessica Heath