Osaka, Japan’s ‘dark witch doom duo’ BlackLab. who released ‘Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0’ through New Heavy Sounds earlier this year have shared a new video for ‘His Name Is…’ directed by Jun Morino and edited by Ged Murphy. Vocalist/guitarist Yuko Morino comments,
‘His Name Is … is a rough rock tune, which has an irregular meter and shuffle beat. The lyrics are written in Nihon-go. The song mixes melodic and barking vocals to add a hardcore element, which is very much part of our sound. It’s the song composed soon after we formed the band, and it’s one of the songs that we often play when we’re asked for encore.’
Being nominally a ‘Doom’ band, their album featured a bucket load of Sabbath worship for sure, but Blacklab have a vibe and experimental undertow akin more to their countrymen ‘Boris’ and the souped up lo-fi fuzz of Ty Segall or Comets On Fire.
This first BlackLab release on NHS, was a version of their ‘Under The Strawberry Moon’ album which was released in tiny numbers on CD only in Japan, a pull together of previous tracks and new songs recorded over 2017.
But the NHS variant is different. Wayne Adams (Death Pedals, Shitwife, Vodun, Casual Nun) noise guru at Bear Bites Horse Studio remixed the tracks to maximum effect, upping the fuzz and weight of the originals, to create Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0. exclusively for NHS. You will not be disappointed.
Blacklab are: Yuko Morino, guitar and vocals. Chia Shiraishi, drums.
Under The Strawberry Moon 2.0 will is out now Available as limited edition Black/Orange vinyl which includes a free CD and download of the whole album. Also available in regular CD and digital formats.