Japanese War Effort are based in Glasgow but since Offthebeatentracks featured them, they’re fair game. Plus, being the charitable individuals they are, their album is available as a free direct download ZIP. file from their Bandcamp website here.
Sings of a Green Dear Place, their latest offering, is composed entirely of songs about Glasgow; it’s not their first free mini-album and in fact they have a full-length release, I Will Leave You Now, And Two Loudspeakers Will Take My Place out now for about a fiver. Although they exhibit clear influences from Beach House and The Postal Service, though they’re not simply another denizen of the electronic long tail.
Standout tracks like The Cathcart Circle, Lets Be Ok Now and Oh Literature! are imbued with a rough, pulp-paper feel; less clean-cut and dreamlike than the aforementioned US acts, somehow it sounds off-kilter and out of focus – more alike to Meursault than the Cocteau Twins. There’s a melancholia and sadness that accompanies the sparing lyrics, a nostalgic regret that is interlocked; woven into the fabric of their delicate melodies and soft beats.
Although it could be misconstrued as morose self-indulgence – but whilst Sings of a Green Dear Place is at times ghostlike, it also shows signs of haunting beauty. I thoroughly recommend taking a musical trip through their (free!) back catalogue, and snapping up their album when you get the chance; I will.
Rating DDDD
