New World’s End Girlfriend: “Plein Soleil”

ByPatrick St. Michel

Virgin Babylon Records has had one of those banner years a label can only dream of, so it’s fitting that the guy running the whole operation gets in on it too. Katsuhiko Maeda’s World’s End Girlfriend project has a new album out — their first in six years — at the end of the month, and the dramatic “Plein Soleil” is the first peak into it. Befitting of an album grappling with some big issues — it explores his personal philosophy and life in a post 3/11 / terrorism era, according to the description, which is pretty ambitious even for press material — “Plein Soleil” features swelling strings and choir-worthy vocals, the song building from sparse prayer to something thunderous when electric guitar squall enters and nearly overpowers everything. Listen above.

The label has a lot of other stuff in the works too — Have A Nice Day! already dropped one of our favorite albums of the year, and now they have another coming soon. Watch a video for their latest song below, along with a preview of their forthcoming Jun Togawa / Vampillia collaboration.

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