Q&A: Tokyo Tea Room Can't Look Away on "Eyes Off You"
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
TOKYO TEA ROOM HAS ALWAYS MADE MUSIC THAT LINGERS - the kind that burrows into your chest and refuses to leave. Since their debut album No Rush introduced them to the world, the Margate-based band have been quietly building something rare: a project with genuine emotional gravity, one that resonates just as deeply with a listener in their bedroom at 2 am as it does in a sold-out venue across the Atlantic. With millions of monthly listeners and a debut North American tour that sold out entirely, the momentum behind Tokyo Tea Room feels less like a surge and more like an inevitable tide.
Now, with new music on the horizon, they're stepping into what feels like a defining new chapter, and "Eyes Off You" is the first glimpse of where they're headed. Written and produced by Daniel James Elliott and anchored by Beth Dunn's hypnotic vocals, the track is an atmospheric study in obsessive love: that specific, disorienting pull toward someone you know isn't good for you, and the way desire has a way of overriding everything else. Mesmerizing synth, shimmering guitar, and a slightly more pop sensibility than fans might expect make it one of their most immediately magnetic releases yet — though at its core, it's unmistakably Tokyo Tea Room. Vulnerable, transportive, and impossible to shake. We sat down with the band to talk about where "Eyes Off You" came from, what Margate has to do with it, and what's coming next.
LUNA: "Eyes Off You" explores obsessive love, that feeling of being pulled back to someone even when it hurts. Where did that song start for you? Was it a specific experience, or something more universal you'd been sitting with?
TOKYO TEA ROOM: It started from a universal feeling rather than a specific event. I think most people have felt the effect of someone lingering in your mind long after its expiry date. This song represents that tension between desire and reason, being pulled into someone and all the positive and negative emotions that kick up along with it. The verses serve to build up the nostalgic and intoxicated vibe and the chorus releases that tension representing the more euphoric and obsessive side.
LUNA: What's your favorite lyric from the track?
TOKYO TEA ROOM: The lyrics in this song are easily translated, I think. There's no tricky metaphors or interpretation, which is usually an area where I can get creative with words and meaning. So it's quite different for me, but I'd have to go with: Can't quit loving you like I was born to lose.
LUNA: Daniel, you wrote and produced "Eyes Off You" — how did you land on the synth-driven, atmospheric palette for this one? Did the sonic world come first, or did it grow out of what the song was emotionally trying to say?
TOKYO TEA ROOM: The sonic palette was baked into the song from the very beginning, I wrote this song jamming on my DX7, one of my favourite synths, and the fizzy string sound just felt right, I never really questioned it after that. I'm always looking for different synth sounds to jam with, that really helps the way I hear the rest of the song and it plays a big part in shaping the rest of the sonic landscape. Sometimes I can hear things in chords that I wouldn't have if I'd played it on another instrument.
LUNA: The track is slightly more pop than your usual sound, but it still lives in that introspective Tokyo Tea Room universe. How do you know when a song is pushing the sound forward versus when it's drifting too far from what the project is?
TOKYO TEA ROOM: I don't tend to think that way much anymore, I try to write without the constraints of the project. There's so much more freedom in doing it that way, I want to keep feeling the fun and authenticity in the songs, and it becomes clear later if it works for Tokyo Tea Room or not. But it has got more of a pop sensibility and that's just been a natural progression for me. Working with Beth on the demos I can usually see what will work and what won't, based on how much fun we have during the process.
LUNA: Margate feels like an unlikely place to build something with a global audience. How much does where you're from shape the music you make?
TOKYO TEA ROOM: It is quite unlikely, and I love that. It's a fun place to live, especially in the summer and I wanted to reflect that in the music. The winter months here can be quite brutal, being by the sea, but there's a great sense of optimism when the summer months come around, you can feel the town come to life. There's a palpable energy shift and I wanted our new music to be the sort of thing you'd want to play cruising in your car with the windows down in the sun.
LUNA: No Rush established you, the sold-out North American tour built on that, and now you're heading back to North America this fall. What does it feel like to watch a US audience find you and grow?
TOKYO TEA ROOM: It's surreal, yeah. Over the years we've been quite humble about it because to us it was just a number on a screen, we didn't realise what it meant because it was hard to quantify in our minds. But having gone out there and sold-out the shows and met all the lovely people that we did, was just such an amazing career affirming moment for us all. We can't wait to go back and see everyone again. We have big love for all the people that message us from all over the world. We see you and can't wait to meet you.
LUNA: "Eyes Off You" is described as a new chapter, with new music on the horizon. How has the band evolved since No Rush — not just sonically, but in terms of what you're trying to say?
TOKYO TEA ROOM: Sonically we've started to explore more upbeat grooves, and we're all excited to inject that kinda energy into our records and live shows. Historically our message has been steeped in reflection, nostalgia, obsession, love, loss, etc — all heavy and vulnerable human emotions that shape our everyday, that kinda thing is never not relevant, and there's a thousand ways to express just one of them, so we'll continue to express that in our music.
LUNA: What intentions do you have for this summer season?
TOKYO TEA ROOM: This summer you can expect to see a lot more of what we've been up to in the studio to come out through the channels, which we are very excited about. But on the ground level we'll be spending our summer putting together our live show for the upcoming NA/EU/UK tour, and to be honest just all round enjoying this summer whilst we can. Very much looking forward to seeing the responses to this new chapter for us, it's been really fun so far.
