Review: Holiday in Tokyo’s newest indie-rock single ‘White Marquee’ takes you on a nostalgic journey through the past
North-East based UK band Holiday in Tokyo take great inspiration from lo-fi songwriters such as Liz Lawrence, Nilufer Yanya and Courtney Barnett, twisting their styles into an original slow indie sound bearing an undeniable spark. This four-piece find themselves working their day jobs in the chemical industry, patching together their wildly individual music tastes to coincide for the project now known to be Holiday in Tokyo. From their self-critical lyricism to their colourful live shows, Holiday in Tokyo are proving themselves to be a band that shouldn’t fall under your radar.
Through the four minute experience that is their latest single, ‘White Marquee’, Holiday in Tokyo have created a softened bed for laying your weary head and slowing down to appreciate the smallest of moments. Delicately leading you in with a short but eloquent electric guitar riff, followed by some minimal strums, ‘White Marquee’ quickly establishes itself to be a journey made not to rushed, but to sit and allow yourself to fall within its tranquility. Ever-so adding to the pace, a steady drum beat adds to the simple mix creating what is to be the primary instrumental-scape for this track of vibrant reverie, and whilst wielding no complexity, it’s incredible how Holiday in Tokyo manage to keep things fresh with the occasional fluctuating riff or moment of instrumental shifts. As those moments of difference add all the more buzz, Holiday in Tokyo primarily leave the choruses to litter moments where vocals are left only on top of a shimmering guitar riff, before falling back into the comfortable safety of their swaying pacing. Blending lo-fi pop sensibilities with a retro indie sound, Holiday in Tokyo have formed something that is so wonderfully dreamy it could find itself within a movie or TV show’s soundtrack for its transportive environment quite unlike anything else.
Journeying through a nostalgic childhood memory of frontman Matty, you’ll find yourself whisked away through the lyricism to a caravan park in Slayley, where his father nervously plucked up the courage to publicly play guitar for the first time. Jumping from memory to memory of their upbringing and parents, ‘White Marquee’ slowly establishes itself to be a letter of admiration, thanking their parents for the things they’ve done for them and the music introduced to them through their slow youthful days. As many of the lines explore their childhood ingrained in music, the lyrics piece together both a sweet but mildly painful experience that explores their parents musical tastes and impressions it left on them, ‘Your guitars covered in dust, all you ever played was Stray Cat Strut. As I see your legs are shaking, my little heart is breaking.’ Not all of the release is melancholic however, with lines like ‘I couldn’t make out what you’d say, I didn’t know these songs anyway’ that place a gratitude for their parents showing them every essence of the music they grew up with and led them down their current musical paths. Mentioning older names like Paul Simon and Paul Weller, ‘White Marquee’ feels like a track lost in time as both the soundscape and the lyricism so effortlessly brings you back to childhood days and the sense of hearing these integral songs for the very first time all over again.
Set to play their very first sold-out headline show soon, it would be a disservice to not take a listen to Holiday in Tokyo for yourself before this four-piece is sure to make a name for themselves. Check out ‘White Marquee’ for yourself here, and lose yourself within the journey they’ve spent countless hours working to take you through.
Written by: Tatiana Whybrow
Photo Credits: DJMPhotography