REVIEW

Second EP from Machida-based post-rock/shoegaze band EARTHLING.

Formed in 2022, EARTHLING currently operate as a five-piece, featuring Ayaka (Vo), Katty (Gt), Raita (Ba), Hiroki (Dr), and Mitan (Key, support member). The band name is derived from David Bowie’s album “Earthling,” a reference that subtly hints at their interest in atmosphere and transformation.

Released roughly six months after their debut EP, this second outing retains the band’s core contrast—heavy guitars paired with strikingly beautiful vocals—while shifting toward a slower, darker sonic palette. The interplay between darkness and beauty feels more pronounced here, giving the EP a weightier emotional presence.

Track #2 “Haiiro” opens with an ethereal introduction that ripples like moving water, before a surge of heavy guitars pulls the listener deep into a shadowed forest. Against the grinding riffwork, Ayaka’s vocals alternate between seductive restraint and passionate intensity, glowing like a single candle flickering in the dark. On #3 “Zanzou,” the band leans further into classic shoegaze territory vocally, with hazy, dreamlike melodies set against guitars that remain unflinchingly heavy. This tension—soft versus hard, stillness versus motion—is where EARTHLING seem most at home.

Their songwriting thrives on contrast not only in texture but also in structure. The unpredictable shifts and richly contoured arrangements, along with a sense of decadent darkness, may remind some listeners of cult 1990s gothic metal acts such as The 3rd and the Mortal or Unholy. One could imagine this as what might happen if those sounds were infused with shoegaze and post-rock sensibilities.

According to interviews, the band draw inspiration not only from shoegaze but also from visual kei, metal, gothic, industrial, and progressive music, which helps explain the distinctiveness of their approach. Even the EP’s title, ““Guwa” (meaning allegory or fable) carries a sense of narrative ambiguity. The opening sound of a clock and lyrical references such as the “carriage” in “Haiiro” (Gray) may suggest echoes of familiar fairy tales—perhaps even Cinderella—though the story here seems to veer toward a far more tragic conclusion.

Whether this reading holds true or not is ultimately up to the listener. EARTHLING’s music invites interpretation rather than prescribing meaning, allowing each listener to draw their own conclusions from its dark, evocative world.