What would you like to listen for breakfast? If you have nothing on your mind, I suggest you digest Japanese Breakfast. Behind the name Japanese Breakfast stands a young artist Michelle Zauner. Before this project, Zauner was (and still is) a frontwoman of Little Big League, an indie rock band from Philadelphia with two albums in their discography, but it wasn’t before unfortunate life events forced her to mature rapidly that she started creating substantial, meaningful music.
In 2013, Zauner had returned to Oregon to take care of her mother who struggled with cancer. Meanwhile, she started working on new songs. The process of songwriting became her form of self-therapy and further on helped her deal with her mother passing away. In 2016, these songs converged into an album titled Psychopomp, a debut that was praised by critics and loved by fans of indie rock music.
Soft Songs From Another Planet is a sequel to her debut. According to Zauner, the album represents a failed concept on the theme of universe. In my observation, this record truly does have universe as the main theme, but it is far from being a failure. The sophomore album of Japanese Breakfast is bursting from life and seductive tones. At times, it seems like it is comprised of incompatible music elements, but Zauner is a pundit in putting them together into a coherent gestalt.
The album unfolds with melancholic guitar-driven shoegaze number Diving Woman. In the first few verses, we can witness Zauner reflecting on her South Korean heritage. The first promotional single Machinist speaks about the love between a girl and a robot, and no matter how bizarre this topic appears to be, it falls into the background when you hear a mellifluous saxophone solo levitating above rhythm machine and galaxy of bass line. Boyish is a ballade that smells like Roy Orbison, while 12 Steps and Body is the Blade represent full-blooded indie rock tracks. Jimmy Fallon Big, Till Death and This House are intimate confessions of a young artist soaked in a dreamy atmosphere.
Japanese Breakfast and Michelle Zauner have dropped two magnificent albums in a matter of just two years. Softs Sounds From Another Planet is a modern indie album that gives us plethora of reasons to highly anticipate whatever is coming next.
