Japanese Breakfast Pulls From the Classics on “For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)”
Until now, indie pop darlings Japanese Breakfast haven’t graced us with their presence in the culture since Jubilee (2021). At first glance, you could call For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) a return to form and an evolution all at once, being the band’s first complete studio album after a career of DIY production and makeshift recording spaces. Jubilee was a departure to a notably brighter and more upbeat emotional landscape than the band’s prior projects. It’s important to note that the album’s title is something of a red herring. Melancholia of course permeates as a throughline, a hazy undertone, but this record does not wallow. Sonically, we pick up where Jubilee left off. With production by the renowned Blake Mills (Bob Dylan, Fiona Apple, Alabama Shakes) and an emphasis on live instrumentation over the ambient, reverberating synths of the ghosts of Japanese Breakfast eras past, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is incredibly down-to-earth.
Katie Goodale
Sentimental opening track “Here Is Someone” sets the scene with delicate fingerpicking upon a backdrop of soft strings with an almost discordant twang. A shimmering synth ebbs and flows, and finds its way to the forefront every so often like a wave crashing on the shore. The feeling of this entire track is encapsulated in the last line, “Life is sad, but here is someone” - the loaded final word repeating as the instrumental compounds upon itself in a stirring climax.
Lead single “Orlando In Love” is where we get to hear the record’s wordy tumblr-esque title in context. Vocalist Michelle Zauner describes this song as “a hodgepodge of odd references”, from Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando”, to a Grützner painting, to Italian Renaissance era epic poem “Orlando Innamorato” (which translates to “Orlando In Love” and is comprised of 68 and a half cantos, what the line “Orlando in love / Writes 69 cantos / For melancholy brunettes and sad women” is referring to). Classical literary allusion is a primary device on this record, contributing to the way in which For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is rooted firmly in reality, centuries of art preceding it as a cited reference.
Track 3, “Honey Water” is a standout that I cannot stop returning to, boasting a much louder instrumentation than the two preceding it. Zauner asks, “Why can’t you be faithful? / Why won’t you believe?” Complete with haunting amp feedback and a dense, crushed solo that crescendos in the third act, this was a gorgeous departure. It leads naturally into “Mega Circuit”, the second pre-release single- a fun, folksy little ditty with rich, dynamic vocals extremely reminiscent of Soft Sounds From Another Planet (2017). This record is full of sonic whiplash, flipping between two poles of composition in two song intervals, just frequently enough to let you get comfortable before flipping the switch. We wind back down with the interlude of “Little Girl” and “Leda”, two soft, aching ballads - before “Picture Window” swings us right back to the other side of the pendulum that is For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women). The funky bassline and vocal performance harken back to Jubilee in a major way.
“Men In Bars” is a folksy little tune, which I did not initially realize had a featured artist. Come to find out, it’s Iron Monger from Iron Man (2008)? The jazzy, emphatic voice of Jeff Bridges acts as a fitting parallel to Zauner’s. I found the final two tracks, “Winter in LA” and “Magic Mountain” to be the least memorable, but the record benefits from being tied up in such a way. It levels out smoothly like the base of a sand dune; it lets you down gently like a particularly forgiving comedown.
Pak Bae
