Japanese Breakfast - Psychopomp

On a break from her Philadelphia-based shoegaze band Little Big Leagues to help her terminally ill mother in Oregon, Michelle Zaune, set about to writing and reworking her songs, and recording a truly wonderful album.  The album is titled Psychopomp, and for this project Michelle uses the name Japanese Breakfast.  With a low-to-mid-fi approach and melodic structures that would be at home with shimmering '80s guitar and synth pop, the nine songs showcase an adept songwriter and very appealing vocalist.  The results are professional, but not excessively polished, and they show more heart, grit and pain for all that.  There is a generosity and intimacy in this music that a lot of pop icons and their hired gun producers would love to be able to capture.  But for Japanese Breakfast, it seems utterly authentic.

And due to that visceral connection, passionate performance, and truly remarkable songwriting that I'd rate Psychopomp as one of my ten favorite new releases this year.  I may never delete it from my playlists.







Facebook
Twitter
Bandcamp
Yellow K Records