Based in the Kent seaside town, Margate, Tokyo Tea Room are a UK dream pop outfit who explore themes of longing and the ephemeral nature of the human experience.
When checking out new music sub missions, I generally don’t focus on the accompanying visuals and just judge based on sound. I find it easier to know what I’m really listening to, by tuning everything else out. This meant that when I first heard the version of Nobody’s Perfect below, I didn’t actually clock that the recording was live. Such is the carefully arranged and mastered nature of this performance, with crisp, muted percussion and a gently filtered vocal duet. It’s striking to then absorb it, seeing the band playing live.
The overall song is a spellbinding, heartfelt and earnest — the vocals are emotionally charged, and yet the overall song is so retrained, creating a sense that this is more of an internal monologue than something said out loud. The sound has elements of trip hop, but I also feel the hushed, sunset vibes of someone like Yumi Zouma, a group I haven’t listened to in some time, yet for whom I suddenly find myself longing.
Sometimes quiet music feels like it can say so much more than anything loud, and the live nature of the Nobody’s Perfect video makes it clear Tokyo Tea Room have significant talent. The song is taken from their forthcoming album, No Rush. Check out the live video below, and look out for the album.