TOMIHIRA - PLAY DEAD published July 2006, Zero Magazine

I don't know about you but I actually miss when I when hear a band and the first thing that would strike me are the vocals. Fortunately for me and anyone else who shares my longing, Dean Tomihira has such a voice.

San Francisco Bay Area's Tomihira is a band that satisfies a masochistic sweet tooth one might have for other bands such as Joy Division or Interpol. In fact the vocals can also be said to have the likeness of other melancholy crooners such as Chris Martin and at darker moments, Peter Murphy.

Let's talk about these darker moments for this is the saving grace of Tomihira. The 80's nostalgia music movement is getting a little obese here. It seems that bands have been skulking in the woodwork, waiting for someone to finally tell them that it was ok to once again proclaim how their lives are like a black rose. Woe. Is. Me. At first glance, you could say Tomihira is in the same box yet with songs like "Maddy & Josh," the band revisits darker sonority that is completely neglected by other like-minded bands. So maybe there is hope. If this band explores the goth side of pop even a little further and without becoming just another Bauhaus, they'd be wisely redirecting an already solid and intriguing sound.