We haven’t heard a whole lot from Amber Bain, singer-songwriter who records under the Japanese House nomenclature, since the pandemic kicked off, her 2020 EP Chewing Cotton Wool getting lost in the shuffle of that whole haze. That may be about to change, however, as this week she and long-time label Dirty Hit released her first new song in nearly three years, the softly-throbbing electro-acoustic “Boyhood.” It’s a yearning, melancholic number with Bain stuck thinking over an old relationship in spite of her efforts to move on. “I went to meet to somebody new/Changed beneath the evening light/And she held me kind of like you do.”
Along with a video by Max Barnett, Bain released a statement expanding more on the song’s sentiments.
“When my best friend Katie and I were young and in love, we dreamed of riding off into the distance on her horse BamBam, away from all the problems that came from being gay and in love back then. This song talks about how sometimes, however hard you try, you can’t help but be a product of the things that happened to you or held you back earlier in life. But also, and more importantly, it’s about hope for overcoming those things. And look at us now. Not riding away but towards … something.
“This horse was very lovely to us, but I think deep down BamBam was the horse we were riding all along, and wherever I’m recklessly riding off to in my life, Katie will be riding bareback behind me like a lunatic, arms around me, like we’d always planned.
“RIP BamBam xxx”
“Boyhood” is available now via Dirty Hit. Watch the video below.
Words: Callie Petch
