Visual Kei band Lamiya (ラミヤ) will disband soon, but before they do that, they will have one last live performance where they will share all the chapters of their modern fairy-tale drama with their audience. This performance is planned for Thursday 29 October 2020, a few days before Halloween, the official day on which the band will close the doors of the fairy-tale theatre forever. For the fans in and outside Japan who are unable to join the live show in person, they are in luck, since the band decided to live stream this show on their YouTube channel. More about it at the end of the article.
Chapter 1: The Start
Every music project starts somewhere, so let’s talk about the story of Lamiya. The visual kei band consists of singer Siyu, guitarists n, also the architect behind the music composition and lyrics, and Yu, and drummer Reito. Lamiya (ラミヤ) performed for the first time on 31 March 2017 and immediately released their first single, titled Lamiya.
At that time, it seemed that they wanted to for a harsher sound, something that you can hear back in the song escort, of which a music video has also been shared, as the introduction of the band to the general public. This song and music video gave out a darker and different ambience in comparison with later releases but in due course, it was not exactly the route the band eventually took which is more directed to storytelling.
With the release of the mini-album, Marionette Overture, a clear metamorphose in sound and looks could be noticed of the band, yet the look stayed dark. Sprinkles of charm are added but there is still that breeze of mysteriousness that is enticing. From the mini-album, released in March 2018, a song was chosen for the music video to promote the new release, Puppet. A detailed description of the music video and the song can be read here in a music review.
It became clear which direction the band wanted to go to, the modern fairy-tale drama where the vocalist sings a sad but beautiful song, a story, that can be found in those children’s books your caretakers read to you before bedtime. But in this case, it is not really a story to fall asleep to. Or is it?
Chapter 2: Modern fairy-tales
With the mini-album Marionette Overture, you will be welcomed for the first time in the fairy-tale theatre in music but it starts with the CD cover. You will be invited by the voice of vocalist Siyu, who takes you figuratively by the hand and let you step through the doors of the theatre and you will be surrounded by the immersive music of the Visual Kei band. A quote from the CD review that was published in December 2018 on AVO Magazine is as follows: “The music on Marionette Overture still contains a dark tone, but the voice of the red-haired Siyu makes it all amiable. Where the storyline in the music video of Puppet was missing, it is found on the mini-album.”
The next and now it appears these are also the last steps in the modern fairy-tale drama for Lamiya were a couple of singles, starting with the second single of the band, titled Walpurgis in October 2018 where the reference of it is very clear, Proloque in May 2019 where the band seemed to refer to the fantasy novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the fourth single Secret Chapter in November 2019, which was seemingly referring to the carnival.
With these releases, the band was working hard on expanding their concept of fairy-tales in a modern twist and also in giving them the opportunity to grow in making their sound their own. They kept true to itself with keeping dark elements in their music, lyrics and outfits, although the songs seemingly have some light feel added to it, as you are guided by the voice of the vocalist, to make it better digestible. It also might have to do with the included gloomy and mystifying components that fit perfectly with fantasy stories, carnival parade, Halloween and fairy-tales.
Chapter 3: Missing
And then we have arrived in the year 2020, the year that changed a lot, mostly in the worse way, for people around the world. It is something that should not need any explanation. For Lamiya, the band activities became difficult due to the pandemic. Performing on stage was not possible for many bands including the Visual Kei band. Although they did some performances here and there, it stayed quiet in terms of sharing new music. It might have been the first clue of what the future would be for the rock band. But that does not have to be the case at all, since time is needed to work on new music. Unfortunately, this was seemingly not the case for Lamiya.
What’s a pity is that this band never got an album release after more than 3 and a half years of activities. The many releases they did, were mostly singles and one mini-album. Some of the singles were even released in limited edition (for distribution during live shows) and now sold out. With the knowledge that the Visual Kei band made this amount of songs, makes it bittersweet that there never was a full album release. Since the songs fit with a specific conceptualisation in mind, they might not even fit together on one full album which makes it understandable why it remained with smaller but strong releases.
Knowing that there are a couple of songs that are unable to be purchased anywhere made the anticipation for an album bigger by the time, it seemed a logical next step for the band. But there is good news, some singles and the mini-album are still available through CD Japan* and in the meantime, the band put up the songs on several streaming services such as Spotify. More (download) options can be found here.
Chapter 4: The last chapter
The last live performance of Lamiya, fittingly titled End of story, also the last track on the one and only mini-album of the band, will take place on Thursday 29 October 2020. The start of the concert will be at 17.30 Japanese time, that is 08.30 British time and 09.30 Netherlands time (since summertime will be over by then). For those who are able to support the band during this last live show, it is possible to send out Superchats during the live stream on the YouTube channel of Lamiya.
The last performance of Lamiya will be in two parts. After the first part, all members will change their costumes during a 10-minute intermission. After that, the second part of the live show will start.
If you are not that familiar with this Visual Kei band, but does the concept of the band sounds interesting to you, then do not miss out on this special stream. It is unknown of the live stream will stay up after the performance, since this live stream is directly also the first and last live stream of Lamiya.
I felt gutted when I found out they’d decided to disband. I’d bought every cd I could track down.
I have done that too, although some releases were sold-out or only available at live shows, I am glad that I have some music of them. It is indeed a pity, but I am glad that they kept up the livestream.