JYOCHO's 'Let’s Promise to Be Happy' (February 16th from No Big Deal Records)
Singles “Gather the Lights” and “All the Same,”
along with track “Measure the Dawn,” available now
Album sampler premiered today (1/31)
In celebration of new album, band set to premiere third official video on release day (2/16)
and confirmed for two live performances ─ March 5th in Osaka, Japan and March 27th in Tokyo, Japan
Live concert DVD, JYOCHO presents: Machiya Extra Session (Live), available with CD version
album cover art for Let’s Promise to Be Happy
Click here for album sampler
Click here to watch official video for “All the Same”
Click here to watch live performance of “Gather the Lights”
Click here to download artwork and band photos
Kyoto, Japan (January 31, 2022)─Japanese progressive pop, indie rock band JYOCHO is set to release their new full-length album, Let’s Promise to Be Happy, along with a live concert DVD, on February 16th via No Big Deal Records.
Available for pre-order now, the new album will be made available digitally worldwide, and a CD + DVD set will be available as a Japan only exclusive. Marking the sixth release and first in three years from the Kyoto, Japan-based band, the new eight-track project was written and produced by founding member Daijiro Nakagawa and recorded in Japan at StudioSHIKARI and Studio 246 KYOTO.
Today (1/31), the quartet—Daijiro (guitar/chorus), Netako Nekota (vocals/keyboard), sindee (bass), and Yuuki Hayashi (flute)—premiered an album sampler (click here to listen), produced by graphic designer and photo manipulator ISAMYU, who is also credited for designing the cover art for the new album (seen above).
The sampler follows the release of three tracks from Let’s Promise to Be Happy, including the debut single “Gather the Lights” (released Mar. 24th), featured on Artic Drones’ end-of-year list, “Top 10 Tracks of 2021: Math Rock, Mathy Prog & Indie Rock,” along with the second single “All the Same” (released Nov. 10th) and the track “Measure the Dawn” (released Dec. 22nd). Last summer, the band filmed a live performance of “Gather the Lights” as part of a spin-off concert JYOCHO presents: Machiya Extra Session, derived from their acoustic YouTube video series JYOCHO x KYOTO “Machiya Session,” and released it as the track’s official video on Dec. 4th (click here to watch).
In August, the band announced “All the Same” would be the ending theme song for the Japanese TV anime series, Banished From the Brave Man’s Group, I Decided to Lead a Slow Life in the Back Country, which was introduced at New York Comic Con in October and started airing that same month. Anime News Network (8/30/21) praised “All the Same” as “…an impressive acoustic guitar melody and flute tone…The song's technical yet spacious and majestic sound adds beautiful colors to the ending.” The full-length version of the single was released Nov. 10th, accompanied by the premiere of its official music video (click here to watch).
Regarding Let’s Promise to Be Happy, Daijiro shares, “The new album is our most direct and intuitive work to date. The music on this release was influenced and revolved around the question, ‘Do we really want to be happy?’ For this new project, we started with our first album in mind, from a macroscopic perspective, and ended up with this album, which is a microscopic piece. As we seek happiness, things that are not happy are born within us. It is difficult to keep happiness in the same place for a long time. In order to keep it circulating, we have to bear and face the happiness and sorrow of others. I wonder if humanity is happy now.”
In celebration of the new album release, JYOCHO will be premiering a third music video off this project on release day (2/16), plus they’ll be putting on two performances in Japan: March 5th at Live House Anima in Osaka and March 27th at Shinjuku MARZ in Tokyo.
Directed by Takumi Ohsera (THINGS.), the new concert DVD JYOCHO presents: Machiya Extra Session (Live) features a ten-song set from the band, filmed last August 29th at WALL&WALL in Japan.
Album Tracklist:
1. New Reminiscences
2. All the Same*
3. Gather the Lights*
4. Stay in the Circle
5. Turn into the Blue
6. The End of Sorrow
7. Measure the Dawn*
8. Never Forget
* available now
DVD Tracklist:
1. Lucky Mother
2. pure circle
3. hills
4. a roundabout idea
5. If I die
6. the beautiful cycle of terminal
7. I'm afraid of the cycle
8. circle of life
9. Gather the Lights*
10. family
* available now
About JYOCHO:
Kyoto, Japan-based progressive pop, indie rock band JYOCHO (meaning “emotion,” “mood,” and “atmosphere” in Japanese) was founded in 2016 as a solo project by guitarist Daijiro Nakagawa (formerly of Japanese math rock band Uchu Conbini) before evolving into a full band known for their highly sophisticated and technical sound (featuring guitars, bass, drums, a beautiful flute, and angelic female vocals), well-received by music lovers all over the world, especially in the U.S.
JYOCHO released their debut album, a prayer in vain (December 7, 2016), followed by their second project, Day in the Bluish House (September 13, 2017), which showcased the band’s tight cohesion and garnered international praise from UK’s Prog Magazine, who shared “…a welcome reminder of just what a virtuoso-level modern guitar band looks like. While their debut release a prayer in vain picked up from where Uchu Conbini left off, this release takes the foot off the gas, representing a greater diversity of moods. As with fellow rising Japanese math poppers Tricot, the question of how they manage to fit vocals into music so intricate is anybody’s guess.” (12/18/17)
JYOCHO made their live performance debut in Toronto in 2017 and continued to support their first two albums on tour, performing across Canada, before dropping the fan favorite A Parallel Universe EP (March 21, 2018), featuring the self-titled track chosen as the theme song for the anime TV series Junji Ito Collection. Capitalizing on the EP’s success, the group would go onto release their third full-length album, the beautiful cycle of terminal (released December 5, 2018), followed by the release of their second EP, a perfect triangle, rising sun human (October 9, 2019). Marking JYOCHO’s sixth release and first in three years, the new eight-track full-length album Let’s Promise to Be Happy is due out February 16th on No Big Deal Records.
Since 2016, JYOCHO’s popularity has grown rapidly worldwide, allowing the band to perform live not only in Japan and Canada, but also in China, Singapore, and the Philippines. In 2021, Porter Robinson asked the group to perform at his Second Sky Festival in Berkley, CA, but their appearance was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In interviewing the band last August, The Glow proclaimed, “Few bands can claim to be the flagbearers of contemporary Japanese math rock with quite the same confidence as JYOCHO. Their spiraling, hypnotic blend of progressive rock and hooky pop is clearly descended from math rock’s rich, lengthy history in Japan, yet it also forges a new path for the genre, distinct from the group’s peers. Daijiro Nakagawa orchestrates the group’s delicately jaunty and melodically overflowing compositions, an escalation of the sounds and styles of his previous outfit Uchu Conbini. Nakagawa’s tracks capture the rhythmic variety and complexity of math rock but also show an affinity for Midwest Emo, the American emo offshoot distinguished by its arpeggiated guitars and heavy indie rock influence. JYOCHO’s arpeggios weave texture while the depth of instrumentation, particularly Hachi’s [Yuuki Hayashi] flute, gives the music almost a pastoral, folk-like feel. Too complex to be described as simply ‘pretty’ or ‘serene,’ the group offer an escapist vision of math rock in one of its newest and most essential forms.”
Click here to listen to an introductory playlist, “JYOCHO 101,” curated by the band with essential songs, and click here for Spotify’s “This Is JYOCHO” playlist. For more info, visit JYOCHO.com and follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, and SoundCloud.
About No Big Deal Records:
Founded in 2012 as part of Japanese label Nippon Columbia and celebrating their 10th anniversary this year, No Big Deal Records is an independent record label and production company based in Japan. For more info, visit NoBigDealRecords.jp and follow on Twitter and Spotify.
###
