Nagoya dreampop duo Blurred City Lights came just about out of nowhere last year – okay, out of their bedroom studios – with their full-length debut 天使のいない街で that ended up with a highly-coveted position on my 2024 year-end list. It did this on the strength of its vision, songwriting, and managing the impressive task of being really really good for an almost one-hour running length.

Now, almost exactly one year later, they’ve returned with the follow-up – or maybe that should be follow-ups. Demonstrating that their ambition hasn’t waned one bit, the outfit – now a trio with the addition of permanent drummer – have released Utopia and Dystopia, two new records that are obviously complimentary halves to each other and likely a concept album that I will never understand, no matter how many hours of DuoLingo I get under my belt.

And while only a listen or two in on both parts, they certainly retain all the magic of the debut while naturally being sonically bigger and more confident. The band had let on that the releases were coming sometime soon, but for them to suddenly appear in my inbox was a very happy surprise.

They’re currently only available on Bandcamp as individual purchases but will hopefully make their way to more conventional streaming platforms at some point, and maybe even a proper physical release – ideally as a single entity? As an old person, my inability to get 天使のいない街で in any kind of physical form (I think they only did a very small run of CD-Rs last year) is frustrating.

The band did an expansive interview with Sleep Like A Pillow last Fall, covering their origins and evolution, how they discovered shoegaze and what their future plans are (two albums, apparently!)

Blurred City Lights ロングインタビュー　ジャパニーズ・シューゲイズを貫く未来の音 (The Future Sound of Japanese Shoegaze) @ Sleep Like A Pillow

And while there’s no official media for the new albums – save the albums themselves – a live version of Dystopia closer “Sumire” has been online since last year, meaning that as a composition it predates even the release of the debut.