JAPANESE BREAKFAST “American Sound and Where Is My Great Big Feeling?” (Seagreen Records)

Japanese Breakfast is Michelle Zauner’s solo project. She also does vocals for Little Big League, an indie band from Philadelphia. She stared to write some tunes for a blog she shared that consisted of musicians: Eskimeaux, Florist, Frankie Cosmos and Small Wonder. The concept behind the blog was to essentially put out a song everyday during the month of May.

American Sound and Where Is My Great Big Feeling? were released a month apart from each other but were pieced together in one tape. Zauner’s vocal performances are serene and pure. Her range can also go on a remarkably high pitch. The melodies put you at ease, extracting every bad element of what might have been a terrible day. There is a quirk to every track, taking it away from the singer/songwriter label. Execution is loosely based with vague endings, but settling lyrics that relocate you to an intimate place and at times humorous circumstances. “They became more like diary entries, lacking any real narrative,” Michelle states about the writing process. There is a good amount of dance tracks, stripping away the aspects of folk you can occasionally hear throughout the album. Instrumentation on both albums dwell much on acoustic guitar, drum machine and gentle to bizarre synths.

I respect this project for its admirable and humane compositions. Get access to her tape on Seagreen records which are doing a repressing of 100 cassettes!

Bandcamp:
http://michellezauner.bandcamp.com

Label/Buy:
http://seagreenrecords.bigcartel.com/product/japanese-breakfast-american-sound-and-where-is-my-great-big-feeling-cs-pre-order

- Jesus Perez