myspace band of the week

I’ve always been a sucker for a good indie pop band with a strong female vocalist.  And since I have to wait another month until Stars releases The Five Ghosts, I’ll check out the new Captain Haus band, trademark.

A biography is absent from trademark’s myspace and homepage, so yay for less writing.  Basically, trademark follows in the tradition of J-pop vocals over indie rock similar to polyABC or Sotaisei Riron.  “Music” starts off slow, but gradually adds in some nice boy-girl vocals.  The next song (無題-Untitled) tunes down the guitars to highlight Mie Ayako’s tender vocals.  It’s the kind of song you hear in your head when you watch the stars in the middle of a lake on your row boat.  “Umi” is an interesting experimental track, with a lot of glitches and ambient sound.  Hopefully, it’s not the last of it’s kind on the actual album.  “Sight” provides powerful guitar and vocals while “Scenery” could have easily passed for a te’ song if the vocals were removed.  Mie Ayako’s ability to provide sweet vocals through heavy and slow guitar work and the occasional chaos is a strong point of this band.

Gioia!, trademark’s first album in four years, comes out June 9 in Japan.  You can watch the video for the first single “circus” below.

http://www.myspace.com/trademarkjapan