2022 was a year to remember for Japanese and international psychedelic music fans. Kikagaku Moyo, one of Japan’s most well-known psychedelic bands, announced their planned hiatus after a decade of continuous touring and releases. The final show at Meguro Persimmon Hall saw tears from fans and band members alike, spurred by the shared knowledge that we were losing a band that had cultivated a scene domestically and popularized Japanese rock bands overseas. Yet while we may have lost one of Japan’s most pioneering bands, at least for the time being, another one is set to make use of the path they forged. 

“We were honored to support Kikagaku Moyo for their previous Japan tour, and we learned a lot from them as the band,” says Tokyo-based four-piece psychedelic rock band De Lorians’ saxophonist Takefumi Ishida. “They are way ahead of us compared to where we are now as a band, but I hope our band goes on a huge world tour like theirs one day.”

De Lorians have already begun to make waves in their own right. Not only did their 2019 debut album score 7.4 on Pitchfork, but they also completed their first European tour in the same year. “Of course, our first European tour was rough with a tight schedule and minimal budget but still, we had such a great experience,” Ishida recalls.

Inspired by the time spent during the tour, De Lorians worked on their new EP That’s life during the global pandemic, which sadly turned out to be the last recording produced by the band’s original members. One track from the EP, the experimental “Space Rakugo,” makes use of vocal samples taken from a rakugo performance mixed with avant garde, improvised instrumentals. 

“We did it because we thought it’d be cool, we never thought of it as representing our background or Japanese culture,” Ishida continues “we’re grateful if we can continue performing the music we love, however, representing the music scene or leading generations is not our current aim.” 

Now, after welcoming some fresh blood, the quartet is set to head into the next phase of its career with the announcement of their EP release party at Daikanyama’s Haremame on February 23.

“We will perform the new EP as well as old songs with the current lineup. So there will be a lot of new arrangements and differences to what you hear on previously released songs. But we feel more freedom in the current style even though we have one less member than before,” he beams. 

The release event takes place alongside two more Japanese bands, Dhidalah and Yaryu. Check out the details from the link below. 

De Lorians That’s Life Live
Thursday February 23
Open: 17:30 Start: 18:00
Venue: Haremame(晴れたら空に豆まいて)
http://haremame.com/schedule/74140/