The Japanese Girl is a Portuguese band formed in late December 2013 by Bruno Sousa, Corinna Sousa and Emanuel Cunha. Starting with two guitars, an organ and vintage drum machines, they immediately forged a raw and powerful sound somewhere between garage rock and psych lo-fi, while recently they have been joined by drummer Carlos Nemeth hammering through their opiated layers of reverb. Their intense, noise-filled live performances are accompanied by mysterious visual elements, and besides their own headlining shows the band has also played with Jacco Gardner, The Wand, Girls Names and as part of the Reverence Festival Party. In early 2015 they recorded Sonic-Shaped Life, their debut album. It was put down on tape at Oporto’s renewed studio Sá da Bandeira by Cláudio Tavares and João Brandão, and mastered by Miguel Pinheiro Marques at SDB Mastering. Leading single ‘You Should Have Switches’, released in September, gave the first clues about their own brand of hypnotic rock, where pulsating psychedelia, droney garage and shimmering, trippy pop provide the setting for haunting compositions, catchy hooks and engaging melodies. Over the course of ten tracks, the band sounds commanding in the darker passages or punked-up outbursts and shine in the more sunny, coloured moments, while the flow and pace of the album produce a wholly entrancing record.