Disco, bedroom pop, and indie collide in an irresistible way on Tokyo Tea Room‘s second full-length.
Release date: September 18, 2026 | Nice Guys / Délicieuse Records | Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp
The art of the laidback groove is an underappreciated one. Dancing is, by its very nature, a physical act: whether we fancy ourselves pros, dabblers, or completely awful, music does things to our bodies when the synergy is just right (the instrumentals, the tempo, the VIBE). But to hit that mythical space where the energy meets the introspection, the intensity meets the serenity… it’s much tougher. House music, IDM, the neo-disco of artists like Jessie Ware all strive to inhabit that corner of music to varying success. France’s Tokyo Tea Room deserve a place in that vaunted corner with their new album, Feel Forever.
I had never heard of this group before, and I’ve been kicking myself for this since hearing their new album. Have I been in purgatory for 33 years? Do I need someone to smack me upside the head and bring me back to reality? Feel Forever is the record I didn’t know I’d been waiting for. The opening seconds of “Hypnotized” – tambourine, grooving bass, glistening synths, and funky drums giving way to vocalist Beth Dunn’s understated-yet-seductive delivery – get me on my feet AND give me chills every time I listen to it. When the guitar comes in – all feeling and no frills – it completes the picture. Tokyo Tea Room mean business, and the business is simple: DANCE AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE DONE, which is being ‘bitten by your love‘ and how ‘I couldn’t live right/Without you every night‘. The atmosphere is intoxicating, and after one spin of this song you’ll be feeling bitten by that very same love for what you’re hearing.
“Eyes off You” shares its sentiment (and part of its title) with a certain Frankie Valli song but continues the momentum of the opener with sublime hooks and vocals. The guitar jam going into the last chorus over a bed of pulsing synths, Dunn’s hushed declarations of love… it’s almost too lovely for words. “Leave You” surprises then with its slower pace, still head-bopping but more emotionally raw. After the unbridled euphoria of the first two songs, it’s almost a shock to hear Dunn pleading ‘It’s different when it’s you and I… I don’t wanna leave you‘. The directness of the lyrics and the simplicity of the song structures (verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus) combine to create a directness; the funk, the whole funk, and nothing but the funk.
“Feeling High” owes a debt to Spandau Ballet‘s ubiquitous “True” and could easily be placed alongside it in terms of prom night slow-danceability. The gently strummed guitar, sighed vocals, and subtle cross-sticks on the snare drum make it the hipster hit of the year. “Always in the Sun” bounces along with purpose, its chorus giving the album its name: ‘Feel forever, I can’t wait‘. In those 15 or so seconds, the listener’s universe feels so much smaller in scale, so intimate, and as the layers stack up toward the song’s end, the badness of the outside world melts away and you’re left with only the good worming its way into your ears. “Last Time” reflects on the whirlwind romance of the preceding tracks with weary acceptance: ‘Like a movie scene playing all night/Could it be the last/One last time‘. Considering the unadulterated joy of the first half of the album, it showcases Tokyo Tea Room, and in particular Dunn, wondering whether or not such abandon was worth it in the end.
The answer is presented in the closing “Slip Away”, with its pointed verses – ‘Stay inside/The world outside can wait‘ – and slacker-y choruses – ‘But never mind…‘ – giving in to the moments that come along with young love. We’ve all been there: thinking those moments will stretch on forever, the passion always fiery and the experiences irreplaceable. Of course, that’s exactly what Tokyo Tea Room achieve on Feel Forever: as universal a snapshot of those feelings as you’re likely to hear this year. It moves, it broods, and it provokes all at once; it’s catchy, it’s direct, and it’s subdued all at once. It’s impressive without being showoff-y. It’s layered without being indulgent. It should be heard by everyone.
