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We’ve been mysteriously keen on Japan, Man since the beginning of the year when a bunch of eccentrically catchy singles populated our weekly playlist and stayed there on repeat. The duo, made up of Laeticia Acra and Julian Cassia have really enveloped us with their latest release, Metropolis. Curious as we are, we reached out to discover more about this family band, their influences, and the best films to digest.

Ones To Watch: Who is Japan, Man?  

Japan, Man: Japan, Man is a Lebanese girl and her uncle making music. The team came together unexpectedly when I first showed Julian a song, the first ever song I wrote on the guitar, and it happened to kickstart our music career as Japan, Man. Japan, Man is a mood, a style, and perhaps a vibe? 

What is Metropolis all about? 

It’s about learning who you are for the first time ever. It’s about being birthed into the opportunity of having the freedom to explore all parts of yourself, hidden and exposed. It’s about friends, lovers, places, memories. It’s about looking back on moments in your life, some far, some close. More specifically it was about my migration to London upon living in Lebanon all my life. I loved the comfort of Lebanon, it is such a beautiful place and my heart yearns for it. However, in comfort lies shackles. Lebanon is a very conservative society, and as a person, I’m just not built for that. When I moved to London, I was almost suffocated with the air to breathe as the person I wanted to be for the first time ever. Some lessons were hard to learn and unlearn, but overall the album is about seeing yourself in the city and reflecting upon everything that you are. I believe that in some sense you are your friends, you are your hobbies, you are your clothes, you are your lovers, you are what you make of your life. Metropolis is a compilation of everything I learned while undergoing the metamorphosis of girl to woman. Metropolis is my love letter to London.

How did you settle on the vibe for your first album?  

I was really inspired by the ‘London’ kinda vibe achieved by artists like King Krule, beabadoobee, and even Amy Winehouse. I really enacted to capture that through the album art, which I made myself. But I wanted to do all that while incorporating my musical interests, that Julian and I actually share. We both love The Cardigans, Serge Gainsbourg, Radiohead, Gorillaz, and even The Flaming Lips. I think we mashed these influences up so much you can’t even see where they lie in the music, which is kinda beautiful in a way. It’s like the art just continuously recycles itself into something new and fresh but also nostalgic. The vibe is grunge but playful and even grooves at times. Because we are so inspired by literally everything, I cannot for the life of me place it into a genre though, Julian and I both struggle to do that, we always end up on the enigmatic ‘alt-pop.’.

Any collaborations or features? Who produced the album? 

The wonderful and talented Julian Cassia produced the album, and may I say he did an amazing job and worked so unbelievably hard. We collaborated with Nicolo Roccatello for two of our music videos. One of them was for Overdid It and the other was for one of my favorite tracks, Shit Scared. I absolutely love these videos and worked really closely with Nico. I created storyboards of all my favorite movies, as I’m a big film buff. The films I used to inspire "Overdid It" were like Fight Club and Fallen Angels, I loved the washed-out color grading. And for "Shit Scared" I put down Where The Wild Things Are and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. And also tons of music videos I watch religiously, like those directed by bedroom productions. Nico took my visions and executed them perfectly I must say. 

You have a vibrant eclectic palate, how would you describe your sound? 

It is a real mix, and Julian and I constantly struggle to put our finger on it. I'd say it's grunge, pop, rock, mellow, chill, playful? I’m just holding a thesaurus and listing words at this point! But I think evidently it will fall under the umbrella of alt-pop/rock or indie-pop/rock. 

Can we expect more of this style in the future? Or are you ever-evolving? 

I think, looking at how much our music has changed over the years, it is probably ever-evolving. We are also constantly inspired by new things all around us so that usually translates to shifts in style and incentives in our work.

Besides this excellent album, what else should we be on the lookout for?

We have a beautiful music video coming out soon for our song "Shit Scared." I am obsessed with it because it is so well made and cinematic. It is also rather spooky, so very fitting for halloween. 

What's inspiring you right now outside of music? 

I feel like a thing that constantly inspires me is people and my relationships in my life. Almost all my songwriting is triggered by my reflection upon human interaction. I am also so inspired by being outside in nature, recently being by the sea just does things to me, I think maybe because I've recently moved to a more coastal area. I also watch so so many movies and I usually write after watching a movie that’s really touched me. I think recently, the most inspiring movies I’ve seen have been Close, Blue Jean, The Worst Person In The World, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and really any Charlie Kaufman film. I also like to read, and recently the most inspiring books I’ve read have been Carol, and Earthlings. I am honestly so inspired all the time it kinda gets exhausting. It’s all the little things really. You can dissect any instance, slice it up however you want to, and under everything lies a song, I’d say. 

Food or drink best suited to enjoying your work?

Honestly, the amount of burgers and fries I consumed in the years I spent recording this album is sickly. My friends and I were either always at McDonald’s, or if we were really treating ourselves we’d go to Five Guys. But I’d definitely say a burger and fries. Preferably a bacon cheese burger, and fries accompanied with copious amounts of ketchup and mayo, is the ultimate food to enjoué this album with. 

Who are your Ones To Watch? 

King Krule, Sir Chloe, Childish Gambino, Samia, Little Simz, Crumb, Adrianne Lenker, Lavalove.