Photographed exclusively for Dazed by Cristina Stolhe, the trip-hop time traveller looks back at her enigmatic career as she embarks on her US tour
I’m convinced NORiKO, the producer-vocalist behind POiSON GiRL FRiEND, is a time traveller. Her solo debut, 1992 EP MELTING MOMENT, blended trip-hop and dream pop at a time when Massive Attack were just a little-known band from Bristol and Erica de Casier wasn’t even born yet. Her name, unusual at the time of conception in the early 90s, fits right into today’s era of online usernames-turned-artist-monikers. Meanwhile, her website, psychopla.net, self-coded in 1995 at a time when artist interviews were confined to the magazine rack, somehow gleaned the future of media, creating a digital record of her daily life and artistry that outlasted even the biggest print pieces of the day. I’ll say it again: I’m convinced NORiKO of POiSON GiRL FRiEND is a time traveller.
Speaking to her over video call last month did little to dissuade me. NORiKO joins from Tokyo at midnight – the only moment we could find in between the time difference and rehearsals for her upcoming US tour. I don’t know NORiKO’s exact age but, given the enigmatic Japanese artist was raised in Brazil in the 1970s, and made her musical impact in the 90s, I certainly wasn’t expecting NORiKO to still be working around the clock in 2025.
But the allure of NORiKO’s music only grows with time. Over 30 years on from the release of cult classic MELTING MOMENT, the project’s ethereal tales of heartbreak and yearning are more beloved than ever – a fact NORiKO attributes to the timelessness of human emotion. “Time has changed, but I think the mind of young people has not changed at all,” she tells me over video call. “Maybe you like my music because I was your age when I created it. People’s minds don’t change.” I wasn’t convinced, I still think she’s a time traveller.
Another explanation for the futuristic quality of POiSON GiRL FRiEND’s releases can be found in her uniquely international upbringing. Growing up in Japan’s economic heyday, NORiKO has lived all over the world. She says Paris without the ‘s’, she named her cat (an 11-year old rescue) Cello, and she switches between English, French and Japanese in her lyrics. All of this plays a role in her anomalous sound – there’s the beating pulse of the UK’s trip-hop, the reverb-drenched escapism of the Cocteau Twins, the Parisian extravagance of yé-yé, the early synthesisers of Japan’s then-booming tech industry; all bound up in the perspective of an outsider, effortlessly gliding between worlds.
Still unconvinced, I put the question to NORiKO. Can you really see the future, I asked her. She laughed and continued stroking Cello. I guess we’ll never know.
Below, enigmatic dream pop artist POiSON GiRL FRiEND speaks to Dazed about her timewarping career, the creation of her blog back in 1995, and her favourite album.
We photographed you after your show in Paris. What did you get up to while you were there?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: I just walked along the 19th [arrondisement] area. We were in Parc de la Villette. When I’m in Paris I like to relax and just enjoy the cafés.
You used to live in France, right?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: I used to live in Strasbourg, just east of Paris. I wanted to live in a quiet and calm place. Tokyo life is always busy, I would go out to the club every weekend. In France, they have clubs, but they weren’t my kind of music. It was 20 years ago so I was listening to a lot of opera and classical music.
Do you still go to nightclubs?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: Before COVID-19, I was there a lot. After, I mostly stayed home. I don’t go to the club at all at the moment, but I go to some music bars. People want to dance there, it’s good.
It’s crazy how your music has survived such a long time, how does it feel?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: This is just amazing and surprising for me. I created some of the songs about 30 years ago, you probably weren’t even born at the time.
How does it feel performing to such young crowds?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: It makes me very happy. I don’t have any children, so the audience are all my children.
I don’t have any children, so the audience are all my children
Why do you think your music has survived the test of time?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: Time has changed, but I think the mind of young people has not changed at all. Maybe you like my music because I was your age when I created it. People’s minds don’t change.
Do you still make music nowadays?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: Of course, I do hope to have new sounds next year. But I always take an awfully long time. This year, the tour is so busy that I simply haven't had time to get started on production.
Speaking of looking into the future, you were also an early adopter of the internet. Even your name reads like an online username. What attracted you to online spaces so early on?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: In 1995, it was only Yahoo. There was no Google. At the time, around the 1990s, I had no music agent, and, in Japan, there were very few interview opportunities. In the world of the internet, I could write my own words to people, straight away. It was very interesting to me. I also wanted to connect to my friends, it was a very small world [online] back then.
Your website, Psycho Planet, is super interesting, too. How was it created?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: It wasn’t easy. I had to create it using my HTML language, using FTP [file transfer protocol] to send files every night. [The name] came from the American band Jesus and Mary Chain, they have a song called Psychocandy. Also, my friend created a nightclub called Club Psychics. I don’t know why but I like the letter ‘P’ – as in ‘P’ for Poison, and ‘PP’ for Psycho Planet.
As someone with such strong tastes, could you recommend a book and an album for our readers?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: Book – Do You Love Me? by RD Laing. He’s Scottish. I went to his house in Glasgow. I read it in both English and Japanese, and I had lots of influence from this book. Album – La Question by Françoise Hardy.
I can’t help but wonder – given that many of your lyrics focus on yearning and love, was there ever a happy ending to your love story?
POiSON GiRL FRiEND: It’s difficult.
POiSON GiRL FRiEND’s US tour commences today. Grab tickets here.