With an aesthetic built around the imagery of Japanese seifuku school uniforms, you know a tokenai namae (Undissolvable/Meltless Name) release when you see it even before you hear it, though their style of shoegaze built on grinding guitars, plinky keyboard melodies, and sweet girly vocals is quite distinctive as well. Okay, maybe not that distinctive – at least on paper – but amongst the Japanese shoegaze scene, in which they’ve been kicking around since 2014, the Nagoya-based band have certainly carved out their own space.

After a couple of EPs in 2014 which can generously be described as embryonic, their ambitions came to fruition with their two full-length releases – 2017’s 制服甘露倶楽部 (Seifuku Kanro Club) and 2021’s タイムマシンが壊れる前に (Before The Time Machine Breaks Down) – both of which have just been released on vinyl for the first time.

To go with the reissues, Hakan Öztunalı Majordomo conducted an interview with the band last month – helpfully translated to English alongside the original Japanese – that covers lots of the band’s influences, aesthetic, and themes.

INTRODUCING: Tokenainamae @ Hakan Öztunalı Majordomo

And for further reading, Japanese shoegaze blog Sleep Like A Pillow had an extensive interview with the band in 2022 circa the release of their last release, the 幽かにそう纏う EP; all in Japanese, though, so you’ll need to Google Translate your way through that one.

溶けない名前『幽かにそう纏う』リリース記念インタビュー　論理的飛躍と回帰する走馬灯 @ Sleep Like A Pillow

Everything interesting about the band is fully on display in their videos, which tread a line between sentimental and creepy that I didn’t realize existed. Check out the clip for 「少女の官能基」(“Structural Formula Of You”) from タイムマシンが壊れる前に:

And of course, there’s guitar lesson videos for the song. Bass, too!