Japanese Breakfast’s latest release, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), is perfectly suited to summer wandering and winter wallowing, making it a perfect record for all seasons and sentiments. It was on a hot and humid night in late June, however, that cult singer-songwriter Michelle Zauner kicked off her UK tour in support of the album at Manchester Academy, following an incredible, and televised, set at Glastonbury’s Park Stage the day before.
Arriving on stage, Zauner struck a match and lit a lantern, before picking up a guitar and beginning her spellbinding set with album opener ‘Here Is Someone’. Dreamy, ethereal and lushly textured, the song brought an instantly-entranced audience into the world of Japanese Breakfast. Six band members crowded the stage, including a saxophonist and violinist, allowing for a mesmerising combination of instrumentation that was produced throughout the show.
‘Orlando in Love’ was met with cheers, telling a short tale of love and devotion. Zauner then paused to ask “Manchester, how have you been? It’s been a long time, what have we missed?”, to which a member of the crowd shouted “not much”. “What was that? Something wrong?”, Zauner continued, as red and white stage lights flashed before the band launched into ‘Honey Water’, adhering to the track-list of For Melancholy Brunettes. Throughout ‘Road Head’, a highlight from Japanese Breakfast’s sophomore album Soft Sounds from Another Planet, Zauner could be seen happily bounding across the stage and jumping onto a synthesiser, all while impressively retaining her vocal prowess. ‘Boyish’ and ‘The Body Is a Blade’ followed, entwining early tracks from Zauner’s discography in the intricate world constructed by her album and her live set.
Returning for her lantern following ‘Mega Circuit’ and ‘Picture Window’, Zauner performed ‘Men in Bars’ from the back of the stage, illuminated by two white spotlights; while she swayed the lantern to and fro, her drummer performed the verse originally sung by Californian actor Jeff Bridges. The country-inflected track stands as a testament to the Seoul native’s lyrical aptitude, coming with a chorus so astoundingly stirring it deserves to be printed in full: “who am I to leave behind? We built this / And even when it falls apart, it’s ours / But who could say that I’m to blame for wandering?”
Silence fell as Zauner and her band began to play ‘Leda’: a silence of veneration, rather than boredom. A burst of energy followed for both band and crowd, however, through the sax solo which acts as the climax of ‘Slide Tackle’, a fan favourite from Zauner’s highly successful 2021 album Jubilee. “Manchester, you look so cute tonight, I didn’t think that many of you would come”, Zauner stated, revealing a lack of confidence that remained otherwise concealed in her performance. ‘The Woman That Loves You’ was the only track from Japanese Breakfast’s 2016 album Psychopomp to make the cut this time around, with the song allowing Zauner to further showcase her vocal abilities to a dream-pop backdrop.
“This song is about being a miserable little bitch”, Zauner mentioned while introducing ‘Winter in LA’, before ‘Kokomo, IN’ and ‘Magic Mountain’ began to draw the show to a close. Hints of sultry electro-pop à la Kelly Lee Owens or FKA twigs can be found throughout ‘Posing in Bondage’, as Zauner sings of “closeness, proximity” and yearning. The song closed the main portion of the set, and as drums kicked in she blew out her lantern, signalling that the night was coming to an end. The band departed the stage, while the crowd led a round of applause which lasted until the Zauner returned.
Beginning a rendition of ‘Posing for Cars’ onstage alone, Zauner was subsequently joined by each member of her band one by one, culminating in a cacophony of sounds. ‘Paprika’ saw Zauner repeatedly taking run ups and smashing a cymbal that had previously stood unused and decorative, while ‘Be Sweet’ was sure to be a live highlight and was received by the audience with an apt amount of enthusiasm. ‘Diving Woman’ closed the show, yet many attendees lingered behind once the band had left the stage, seemingly unable to comprehend the beauty they had just witnessed.
Michelle Zauner is so much more than your run-of-the-mill indie-pop singer-songwriter. Every Japanese Breakfast song is infused with pure feeling: emotion runs through each melody, and the effect of this is noticeably multiplied live. Combining the power of her music with connection to her audience, Zauner could be seen frequently making eye contact with her front row. The setlist notably missed off ‘Everybody Wants to Love You’, one of Japanese Breakfast’s best and most widely recognised songs, but it goes without saying that Zauner and her live band made up for its absence many times over. It’s rare to see someone with such genuinely striking talent, and the Manchester Academy show proved that it should be arenas Japanese Breakfast is selling out.
