DOLL PARTS at Livehouse La.Mama Shibuya (Live Report)

DOLL PARTS

La.Mama, Shibuya – April 8th, 2025
Live report by Matt Clark
Photo sourced from DOLL PARTS’ X & Instagram accounts
Special thanks to Steve (from London) for consultation & recommendation

DOLL PARTS rocked the house at La.Mama live house in Shibuya on April 8th, 2025. Formed in 2018, DOLL PARTS are a 3 piece band made up of front woman, guitarist, and lyricist Arisa, drummer Kotaro, and guitarist & composer COZZi. DOLL PARTS’ signature sound is grungy hard rock that incorporates some synth elements, they cite artists like Anna Tsuchiya as an inspiration, with COZZi credited with composing Tsuchiya’s “Lucy”. DOLL PARTS was named in homage of a song by the American band Hole, as Arisa is a fan of their guitarist & singer Courtney Love. DOLL PARTS have a grungy hard rock sound, and employ techniques in their playing to add an atmospheric element to their music. Arisa’s voice is sometimes modified by effects to create layering and further depth for her singing. DOLL PARTS are mainly Tokyo based and on occasion have been known to do street performances near Tokyo’s world famous Shibuya Scramble Crossing near the Tsutaya building.

On this particular evening, DOLL PARTS were preceded by KTMR and Shacalandra. They started their set with seduction by luring us into their “Trap”. The audience was steadily charmed by Arisa’s dulcet tone, singing about ensnaring and consuming you with the love you’re already beginning to feel. The audience sway and cheer to this upbeat and energizing song, the hard rock atmosphere taking over from the previous dance infused up-tempo acts.

We’re next taken to “The Bottom of a Dream” which has a cooler vibe. Continuing to play on the lyrical theme of love they sing of sweet memories of a love once had and now no longer obtainable, except “At the bottom of a sweet dream”. The atmosphere of the live performance has a more lively feeling in the live setting, owing to the warm performance by the band and the synergy created with the audience.

Next, things pick up a little more with “Wait!!”, a cautionary song advising to watch out for liars and those who would promise the world, or try to get you to do things that go against your nature. The crowd joined in singing “wait!!” with the band, guitars accenting the lyrics with a catchy riff. “Wait!!” employs some of the aforementioned vocal effects to good effect, while the punchy guitars give a sharp accent to the melody.

Not so black & white, “Monochrome” was a powerful and passionate song, backed with distorted guitars giving a larger than life atmosphere with a fantastic guitar solo outro by COZZi. Something to look forward to in future live performances & on their new album!

The next song was overflowing with emotion, it hit on themes about deceiving oneself, and putting on a fake “Persona” while hiding pain underneath. In one of the more passionate parts of the song, Kotaro got a moment to shine delivering an excellent drum solo. I particularly like the distorted guitar tone from COZZI, on certain songs it reminds me of American music from the mid to late 90’s that experimented with sound, creating different hollow echoing tones that give a somewhat haunting but awesome vibe.

The last song of the set “Fake” employs more vocal effects for Arisa and some wicked catchy riffs. The night’s performance was a blow out, with Arisa putting her guitar through the ceiling towards the end as she climbed up on the barrier separating band and crowd, leaning over the crowd to sing out a powerful ending to the set. What a rockstar! I’ll definitely be seeing DOLL PARTS again on another visit to Japan! Hopefully I’ll see some of our readers there too!

Setlist:
1.Trap (罠)
2 The Bottom of a Dream (夢の底)
3.Wait!!
4.Monochrome
5.My True Identity (わたしの正体)
6.PERSONA
7.FAKE

Released at venue only on Saturday, April 19th, with pre-orders for distribution online from select retailers (see links below), DOLL PARTS are currently promoting their new album Bragging Out Garbage (B.O.G). DOLL PARTS also released a new music video, “Domination” (支配) on Saturday, April 12th on YouTube! Check it out below!