A POiSON GiRL FRiEND concert is the closest you’ll get to a time-traveling cold sleep. Frigid AC air, ethereal melody lines and the beating of electronic percussion all contribute to the feeling of being transported, half-conscious, to an unknown destination.
Noriko Sekiguchi, better known as nOrikO, or through her solo music project POiSON GiRL FRiEND, is a Japanese singer, songwriter, composer, producer and DJ born in Japan, raised in Brazil and inspired by the British club scene.
Her concert at The Observatory in Santa Ana on Oct. 17 marked the first stop in her 2025 North America tour. Fans, dressed in everything from jirai-kei to POiSON GiRL FRiEND merchandise, crowded the 1200-person venue.
Her music, a mixture of house, trance and pop she describes as “tragi-pop,” first hit the Japanese scene in a six-song mini-album entitled POiSON GiRL FRiENDS in 1991. This name, which she later adopted for her solo career, was inspired by artist and later collaborator Momus’s 1987 album “The Poison Boyfriend.”
She took a break from producing music under this moniker until 2014. POiSON GiRL FRiEND went into relative obscurity as she released music under the name “Dark Eyed Kid” and with her dance music group Kiss-O-Matic. POiSON GiRL FRiEND’s return and 2014 exploration of retrofuristic electropop “rondoElectro” was daring but never broke out to the masses.
However, once Japanese music labels Victor Entertainment and Nippon Columbia allowed the distribution of her older albums through streaming platforms in 2021, fans began to discover her works en masse, breaking through that star-studded ceiling.
nOrikO has experienced a recent surge in popularity as listeners rediscover her albums on Spotify, TikTok and YouTube. “HARDLY EVER SMILE (without you),” her most-streamed song on Spotify, hit over 10 million streams. She began to tour in China, Europe, the U.K, and the U.S. Reviewers called her “dream pop’s future seer.”
Rosemary Avellaneda, a fan who discovered nOrikO’s music through Spotify, said it helped her calm down at a lonely time in her life. The music offered a reprieve for her to center herself.
“I would take the bus and listen. It slows me down, lets me feel my emotions more deeply. It’s a moment where I can stop and think,” Avellaneda said.
TikTok sweetheart Mother Soki and guitarist/deck operator Jack Feiffer opened the set. The vibe was homely — Feiffer wore a hoodie and cap and flitted between guitar, keys and deck. Mother Soki took off her shoes, interspersing her songs with conversations with the crowd. Fans cheer in response, yelling “you’re ICONIC!” One fan gave Mother Soki a handmade bracelet.
nOrikO saunters onto the stage, light-up Halloween candy basket in hand.
Guitar, synths and percussion launched into the upbeat ambient soundscape of “Communication Breakdown.” Neither the melody nor her voice are turned up artificially — each instrument fights for your attention. It feels like you could listen forever.
Veterans Makoto Otsu and Michiaki Kato on guitar and rhythm box take us through new-wave hit HARDLY EVER SMILE (without you), bittersweet reminiscence in Those Were the Days, and heartbreaking lamentation in DOOMED LOVE, their sound morphing to suit each new soundscape.
While she hasn’t become a female John Lydon like she originally set out to be, she has created a scene for young music-lovers to fall in love with live music and a community for them to be a part of.
Kiarra Lapena and Maia Reyes used to go to an alternative ‘80s club on their nights out. Now, they’re turning to small-venue concerts to appreciate live music.
“Experiencing live music is much more enjoyable for us. We’re all just here to see the artist, to enjoy the live music that’s being performed here,” Lapena said.
That appreciation of music is exactly where nOrikO got her start as POiSON GiRL FRiEND. Originally meaning to become a music journalist to support the music scene, a friend of hers invited her to perform at a student festival with a Clash cover band, performing New Wave songs.
Then, a four-month stay in London and Paris exposed her to live music, and the mixture of rock and house that played in British clubs in the early 90s. It pulled her off of her path as an acoustic singer-songwriter and inspired her to create club and dance songs with a drum machine.
With support from guitarist Naoko Eto and rhythm box operator/guitarist Makoto Otsu, POiSON GiRLFRiENDS releases a six-song mini-album entitled “POiSON GiRL FRiENDS” in 1991. You can hear an earlier version of her most popular song, “HARDLY EVER SMILE (without you)” on this album, with alternative instrumentation and breakbeat experimentation that showcases the musical influences evident within her varied catalog.
That freedom is part of nOrikO’s pride as a DJ. You can see it in the way she effortlessly introduces genre-bending covers of The Doors, Julee Cruise, Eugene Raskin, Jane Birkin and Elvis Presley into her performance.
However, authenticity and creative freedom are hard to sustain for music venues. Kiarra Lapena has seen a trend of music venues no longer serving the interests of their original audiences. It’s a double-bind: play what you know will appease most fans, or experiment and risk the livelihood of the venue.
“The energy that the club brings isn’t there–the club we used to go to got filled with people who weren’t part of the scene it was supposed to be for. It’s starting to turn into something it’s not,” Lapena said.
nOrikO has also seen the clubs essential to her musical inspiration dwindle in number.
“Unfortunately, all the clubs I loved have closed down, for example, Gold in Shibaura, Yellow in Nishi-Azabu, or Slits in Shimokitazawa,” she said.
She expresses dissatisfaction with the current state of DJing, especially considering the impact that experimental DJs had on her musical journey.
“30 years ago, DJ is not for style. It was a help for people, to make people happy with music,” nOriKO said. “All of the DJs loved music, maybe even more than musicians.”
That may be why nOrikO has chosen to become a DJ slash songwriter slash singer.
She’s too intimately familiar with music to wrap herself in labels. When asked if she had any grand ambitions when starting to make music, she shakes her head resolutely.
“I’m childish. I just wanted to make my own music. I just want to be myself and believe myself,” nOrikO said.
nOrikO, by her own admission, has and will always be shy. She isn’t confident in her singing or her musical ability. It is this fragility nOrikO retains that brings life to her catalog. It’s in the way her smile only widens for milliseconds at a time and the demure wave she gives the crowd as they roar for an encore. Oftentimes, she looks past the audience as if gathering confidence from some unknown being. The songs written by a younger nOrikO and the romantic pink headlights wash over her face, transforming her once again into POiSON GiRL FRiEND.
Speaking to her after the show, I asked her if she’s proud of her music, of how far she’s come. She answers almost immediately.
“Always or never.”
She stumbles a bit. Backtracks. Looks to her manager for support, but I wave him off.
“There’s very few people in Japan who like me,” she says simply.
She turns the question back on me.
“What do you think?”
I think something along the lines of “If music journalists decided what was good and what was bad, Anthony Fantano might be something other than a pompous ass.”
But I say, ”I don’t know. That’s for you… for you and the fans to decide.”
She breathes. She takes it in. Chews on it, like that was exactly the answer she was dreading.
“I don’t want to live in the past. I don’t listen to my old music. I have to go on. I want to have some miracles.”
nOrikO tells me more music is in the works.