Vocalists have been genuinely screaming at us in their music for at least a few decades now. But when was the last time that you felt like the singer was actually experiencing something painful?
Normally it comes across as a deliberate contribution to their overall sound, but in the case of Tokyo-based band ENDON, the screams relentlessly delivered by Taichi Nagura definitely sound (in lieu of something more rhetorically graphic) like he’s concurrently stepping in successive puddles in his socks. Their 2017 album Through the Mirror even included a stock scream commonly featured in older horror films, and that should’ve basically cemented things in the minds of listeners; ENDON terrifies as much as they are terrified, and there’s probably a secret, collective obsession with John Carpenter’s work as well. (Cue parts of the Halloween score being an interlude on their next dissonant endeavor?)
On the contrary, for their next album, Boy Meets Girl, ENDON are the score. The new full-length — out February 15 on Thrill Jockey — is being marketed as an abstract and atypical soundtrack to “an imagined horror film about love,” which might at least partially account for the otherwise-chaotic and heavy quintet playing “light music” that one might broadly associate with romance. I have my doubts about it being the best musical choice on the drive to Valentine’s Day dinner, however.
Hey, speaking of Valentines Day, didn’t your date say that they’re into pre-orders??? Also, check out the trailer down below; it just warms your heart:
Boy Meets Girl tracklisting:
01. Boy Meets Girl
02. Heart Shaped Brain
03. Born Again
04. Doubts As a Source
05. Love Amnesia
06. Final Acting Out
07. Red Shoes
08. Not for You