Half Japanese is the debut Number Line Records release from Eyedress, the solo project of Bee Eyes guitarist Idris Vicuña. Born in the nineties but raised on eighties new wave, Vicuña’s turn as Eyedress is a melancholic synthpop take on themes of post-adolescent love and loss. Typically written as beats first and then layered with spare melodies and drowned out vocal arrangements, the songs on Half Japanese produce a sense of diaristic nostalgia. Together they provide a retro-futurist account of romance, a loose, mood-driven narrative that begins with the wide-eyed, unsuspecting opener, “Mountbatten” and summery standout, “Teen Spirits,” and which closes with the darker themes of yearning and distrust in “Tokyo Ghost” and “Death Bed” (featuring Cat Cortes of Arigato, Hato!). User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.