Rock music is cool when it is dark. Take for example Depeche Mode, who became way more awesome after they declared, \u201cLet\u2019s have a black celebration.\u201d Making similarly gloomy synth-based music is Los Angeles-based duo Lolahiko, who embraces the same love for darkness and show it off like a bumper sticker proclaiming \u201cProud parent of an honor student.\u201d But does this make them cool?<\/p>\n
The band name Lolahiko derives from a combination of the names of bandmembers Lauren Marie (lyricist, vocals) and Ike Kawaguchi (producer, vocals) \u2013 more specifically, Lauren (Lola) and Ike\u2019s middle name, Tochihiko (Hiko). To get a sense of the band\u2019s love of darkness, during December 2016, the duo pronounced in an interview, \u201cWhy not add a sweet morbid tone to your holiday gift giving?\u201d when referring to gifting vinyls of The Year We Died But Stayed Alive<\/i>. If this statement and the album title aren\u2019t enough to indicate the band\u2019s love for black, then the opening track \u201cFuneral\u201d is a perfect barometer for what\u2019s to come in the EP. <\/p>\n
\u201cFuneral,\u201d a song about death (obviously), is so self-indulgently morose and melodramatic that it borders on being irritating. Its annoyingness is akin to the cloyingly cheery commercials on the radio or TV for local furniture stores. Now, going back to the question of whether this duo\u2019s love for the dreary is cool\u2026it is not. Lolahiko lacks the smoothness and grace of aforementioned Depeche Mode in their expression of doom and gloom.<\/p>\n
However, it is funny that \u201cFuneral\u201d is actually quite an awesome number. While listening to Lolahiko, your brain might recoil at the over-sentimentality of it all, but your heart will surrender to the catchiness of the music. The story of the rest of The Year We Died\u2026<\/i>is the same as on \u201cFuneral:\u201d \u201cFilthy Soul,\u201d \u201cGuts,\u201d \u201cPlastic,\u201d \u201cMurderer,\u201d and \u201cEverleigh\u201d all sound as if Lolahiko are trying to vomit darkness, but the songs are nevertheless very catchy.<\/p>\n
Marie\u2019s vocals are sweet and angelic, and they\u2019re an easy bait to fall totally in love with. The deadpan hopelessness with which she sings words like, \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of fucking crying \/ I\u2019ve already died\u201d (\u201cFuneral\u201d), \u201cI don\u2019t know why you love my filthy soul\u201d (\u201cFilthy Soul\u201d), \u201cI hate your guts, I hate you\u201d (\u201cGuts\u201d), \u201cThe walls of our insides are caving in\u201d (\u201cPlastic\u201d), and \u201cI am a murderer, I murdered her\u201d (\u201cMurderer\u201d), will make you laugh on one hand, and on the other, make you feel touched just by the mere sweetness in her voice.<\/p>\n
Kawaguchi\u2019s music is heavy for sure. But it is also pleasingly atmospheric and superbly produced. It is dark but delightfully melodic. In fact, as far as pure synth music is concerned in the present indie music world, the musicianship and the arrangement do not get much better than what Lolahiko has got going on here.<\/p>\n
Is there a super catchy sunny pop song that\u2019s stuck in your head and won\u2019t go away? Lolahiko\u2019s music is like that pop song, only way bleaker. Their music might not be sunny, but it will make you hum incessantly! Marie and Kawaguchi must be doing something right.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":32999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9939],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-44780","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-lolahiko","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44780"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}