Lounging in a meeting room at her publicist’s office, The Japanese House’s Amber Bain is reminiscing with a feeling between awe and disbelief about the 18 months she’s had since the release of fourth EP ‘Saw You In A Dream’ last year. “Within a month, my life completely changed,” she explains. “In February, a really long relationship I was in for about three or four years ended, so I moved out of that house, moved in alone, got a dog and sort of finished working on the album…”

It may not have been the most ideal event to happen right in the middle of working on a debut record, but it did offer Amber the chance to view the making of the album through a new lens. After spending the past three years refining her sound, on The Japanese House’s debut full-length ‘Good At Falling’, out next March via Dirty Hit, she’s embracing experimentation and finding her strength as a songwriter by producing some of her most lyrically direct work yet.

Releasing the equivalent of an album’s worth of songs before actually releasing a full album “was logistical” in some ways, she explains, because of her intense touring schedule over the past few years, during which time she headed out on several of her own headline tours, as well as buddying up with Dirty Hit labelmates Wolf Alice and The 1975. “But I was really glad that I did that because if you compare the first shows to now, it’s a completely different person on stage,” she reflects. “I’m not naturally a performer. I’m more of a behind-the-scenes songwriter and producer, but I’ve learnt how to become that person. I’m glad I waited this long because I don’t think I’d have been able to make the same album two years ago. I think it’s important to not rush things and find exactly what kind of music you want to make.”

Recorded between Angelic Studios in Oxford, ICP Studios in Brussels and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver’s rural studio in Wisconsin alongside producer BJ Burton and George Daniel of The 1975 (with Matty Healy also contributing vocals to one of the songs), her debut pulls together everything she’s learned so far while consistently pushing it a step further, displaying an emotional vulnerability she admits she wouldn’t have been able to express quite so candidly a few years ago.