Japanese Breakfast - For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)

Japanese Breakfast has always drawn upon a mix of '80s influences, but here Michelle Zauner and the band conjure a dark, goth-like magic, evoking the full-masted galleon productions of bands like the Church, Japan, and the Cure. Her songs reveal themselves slowly; her voice a cherubic bell-tone cutting through the coastal fog of analog orchestral synths, crystalline acoustic guitars, and gargantuan basslines. Yet there are moments of lyrical twang, as on "Men in Bars," her sun-dappled duet with a gruff-voiced Jeff Bridges, or "Winter in L.A." which sparkles with a Beach Boys wistfulness. It often feels like Zauner is questioning herself, staring into a mirror and wondering whether she is the sad girl who avoids the sun, or the ideal woman, like the "Venus from the shell" who emerges from the sea to bedevil a man in "Orlando." For Zauner and Japanese Breakfast, the answer is always something in between and more complex and creatively assured than what has come before. With For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women), Zauner invites us into the magic mirror her life and pulls us through to the other side. ~ Matt Collar allmusic.com