Sotaisei Riron wanted none of that. This Tokyo five-piece has earned a reputation as being a particularly private band, doing minimal interviews and banning photography and video from their live performances (extended to Fuji Rock). Of course, some people managed to sneak shots – it was going to be nearly impossible to enforce this rule at a festival, especially at a well-drawing show like Sotaisei Riron – yet the band still carried an air of mystery no photo could chip through. In particular, lead singer Etsuko Yakushimaru did everything in her power not to be on stage. She came out last, and stood mostly still for the majority of the group’s set, surrounded by a laptop, a sheet of lyrics and a microphone. Sometimes she did photo-worthy stuff – she played with a glowstick at times, and on one song she played the recorder – but for the most part she was motionless.

It was a set seemingly out of step with the rest of Fuji Rock, yet also fascinating in its own ways. Sotaisei Riron’s music has never felt particularly festival worthy – it is muted, private stuff, all precise guitar lines and Yakushimaru’s near whisper of a voice. Those qualities appear all over the group’s third album Town Age, released only five days before they took to the White Stage. The bulk of their set featured new tracks from that album, a move that surely left a large chunk of the crowd confused, as they might not have heard that disc yet. Yet those new songs could sound gorgeous – “You & Idol” highlighted Yakushimaru’s vocal abilities, while something like “Bataco” showed how tight the other four members of the group could sound, guitars zig-zagging and dual drummers making enough space for one another.

This emphasis on new material – with minimal talking in between, Yakushimaru at times only saying a few words that seemed almost cryptic (“Japan…thank you…Japan”). One older song, “Sumatra Keibitai” from their debut EP, got the crowd jumping around and putting their hands in the air. Some people even shouted after every line, which makes sense at a communal event like a festival but still seemed weird in the presence of Sotaisei Riron’s shy music. And that was one of the only moments the group allowed people to go wild – the rest of the time, they were showing off new material. The set ended quite a bit earlier than scheduled, with Yakushimaru simply saying “bye bye” after one song and walking off. It was an unconventional ending to a very unconventional set, one that felt both out of place at Fuji Rock 2013 but also so much more intriguing.