I usually don’t have too much trouble deciding if I am going to title a post about non-English bands with their native language or the translations – I generally prefer the former because it’s more “authentic” and I’m pretentious like that – but I had to think hard about this one, mostly because the English translation – which is My Dead Girlfriend – “prologue to the nine stages of change at the deceased remains” – is almost more incomprehensible than using the Kanji. But here we are, and I will use My Dead Girlfriend henceforth because because.

The band are proof that impact and output are not directly proportional, because while they still perform live on the semi-regular, they have only put out four or five proper releases since 2010 – one full album (2015’s Hades (The Nine Stages Of Change At The Deceased Remains) and four mini-albums (all longer than a conventional EP), the most recent of which – Shaman’s Daughter – came out in 2020. But their position near the top of the hierarchy of Japanese shoegaze is undisputed. They thread the line between heavy and dreamy with aplomb, made distinctive with their male-female vocal interplay and unerring pop instincts. Plus there’s obvious some high-concept thinking behind every one of their releases – apparently Hades is a reference to a Buddhist concept of the nine stages of bodily decay after death – so maybe it’s good I don’t understand it and can just appreciate the great tunes.

They made a video for the opening track of Hades, and boy for a group of people about to plough through a song cycle about rotting corpses, they do seem to be having a good time?

And oh yeah of course there’s a guitar cover video.