Japanese Breakfast : For Melancholy Brunettes(& Sad Women)

Michelle Zauner has had a pretty busy decade. Releasing her debut album Psychopomp with Japanese Breakfast(which also includes Craig Hendrix, Deven Craige, and Peter Bradley) in 2016. Then a gradual climb into indie rock royalty with follow-up albums Soft Sounds From Another Planet(2017) and Jubilee(2021), Zauner and Japanese Breakfast became a band to watch and anticipate new music from.

The same year that Japanese Breakfast released Jubilee, Zauner released her debut book Crying In H Mart. The memoir was about Zauner taking care of her dying mom and what she went through during that time(Psychopomp also dealt a lot about that time in Zauner’s life.)

Since 2016, three albums plus a debut novel. And now we have Japanese Breakfast’s 4th LP, For Melancholy Brunettes(& sad women), a beautifully ornate and dreamy record with Blake Mills producing. It’s a rich, textured album that doesn’t carry the heaviness of previous records. While not heavy in narrative, it’s the band’s most sonically rich album yet.

The collaboration between studio wizard Blake Mills and Japanese Breakfast seems to be the collab we never knew we needed. Album opener “Here Is Someone” is a beautifully layered song. Mills takes all the guitar duties leaving Zauner to pick up the keys, mandolin, and various percussion instruments. It’s a beautifully put together track. “Orlando In Love”, which contains the album title in its lyrics, has a sleepy feel to it. Strings and synths lull the listener, bringing to mind Rufus Wainwright and even Ry Cooder in some spots.

Elsewhere “Little Girl” has Blake Mills all over it. Touches of Nilsson and Randy Newman come through in the arrangement. Folks-y and melancholy, this is a beautiful song through and through. “Men In Bars” has a mournful country twang thanks to pedal steel and some vocal help from the Dude himself, Jeff Bridges. Another wonderfully sad song that shows the melodic force Japanese Breakfast possesses. “Magic Mountain” closes the record out on a bed of strings, acoustic guitar, and of course Zauner’s whispered vocals.

For Melancholy Brunettes(& sad women) is the kind of album you slip right into. Dream pop, country jangle, and production that has that “pocket symphony” quality that Brian Wilson did so well. But instead of melancholy days at the beach and reminiscing about youthful innocence, Japanese Breakfast has given us an album to contemplate it all to. No pressure to get deep, but if you want to do the work this record will help you right along.