Album Review // Japanese Breakfast // For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)

Dead Oceans

4/5 stars

For someone as talented as Michelle Zauner, the songwriter behind Japanese Breakfast, it can be hard to escape the shadow of your own accomplishments. Zauner took a much-needed break from music after the release of her biggest record yet, Jubilee, in June of 2021; in its place, she took to writing, first a book (Crying in H Mart) and then a screenplay of the same name. Now, four years later, we're presented with For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women), a refreshingly understated follow-up that refuses to bow down to the maximalist pop of its predecessor. For Melancholy Brunettes swaps out the electronic synth and chamber-pop of Jubilee in favor of acoustic instrumentation, literary references, and a sinister undertone informed by the singer's research into male-dominated subcultures. This can be heard on the Alex G-adjacent single "Mega Circuit" as well as the ominous "Honey Water," a distorted slab of indie-rock songwriting that sounds unlike anything Zauner has released before. But shockingly, the rest of the album is largely composed of lightweight ballads, including a duet with actor Jeff Bridges. It's a strange combination, but a pleasant one, and it's the kind of switch-up that continues to make Zauner such an engrossing songwriter, regardless of the size of her vision.