Singer and guitarist Michelle Zauner of Philadelphia's indie-rock band Little Big League is now Japanese Breakfast. What started as a song-a-day project sparked from a time of loss and grief has been lovingly crafted into a lo-fi electro/indie-pop project. Japanese Breakfast tenderly walks on the emotions experienced during Zauner’s period of mourning the death of her mother and other difficult experiences in her life. Zauner recently released her first solo LP as Japanese Breakfast, Psychopomp, a searingly beautiful and surprisingly upbeat reflection on loss and how to find the joy in pain.
We talked with Zauner about her work on the solo project, the production and direction of Psychopomp, and more. Enter to win a pair of passes to see her take the stage as Japanese Breakfast Sunday, September 18th at The Independent with Porches and Rivergazer.
This is your first solo project; how has the experience differed from your time with Little Big League?
It's nice not having to negotiate every decision and really just chase your vision and watch it come to life, but it can also be stressful having the weight of all of that on your shoulders.
Japanese Breakfast originated from your own practice of writing a song a day. How did you come to the decision to publicly release your own material under that name?
It was a pretty quick decision. I thought it would be a great exercise and I liked the way the moniker just sounded. The words together feel curious and I liked the idea that it would likely make people wonder and research it. Breakfast sounds very American to me and I wanted to juxtapose it with a word people associate with foreign.
Why did you choose Psychopomp as the title of your album?
After my mother passed away, I started seeing a Jungian analyst. My husband picked me up one of his books on dreams and that word stuck out to me. I liked that it sounded like psychotic pop, which I think sometimes feels like the genre of music I make. When I looked into its meaning, it really resonated with me. In mythology, a psychopomp is a creature that guides spirits to the afterlife. In a lot of ways I really felt like it was the role I had to adopt over the course of my mother's illness. I wasn't there to judge or save her, but just kind of be there and guide her through it. There's another layer that has to do with dreams and the unconscious and that just really tied it up to be the title for me.
This album is derived from various emotional points in your life. How did you come to the decision to produce these songs with their rather positive and uplifting melodies?
I get asked this question a lot. I think that most of the songs started as pretty slow, sad compositions. Over time the arrangements and production really brought it into a more upbeat sonic space. I think I've always been drawn to pop music, but enjoy navigating pretty dark emotions and experiences with my lyrics, so the combination of the two were pretty natural.
The creation of Psychopomp was a therapeutic means of coping with the loss of your mother and you’ve said your song “In Heaven” is a product of that. How was the process of writing and producing that track?
That song took quite awhile. It was one of the first songs I wrote specifically for the album. Shortly after my mom passed away I slipped into this cottage at the bottom of my parents' property and started writing to help distract myself from falling into a deep pit of depression, and also to just privately carve out something for myself. When I brought it to the band I was working with to arrange, it really wasn't working. It wasn't until Ned and I started the mixing process that it really started to take shape and become probably my favorite song on the record. It was one of the first songs we started mixing, then opened back up, added lots of synths and samples and finally found what it was meant to be.
How did you come up with the concept for the music video for “In Heaven?"
I met Adam Kolodny about five years ago through the LVL UP guys, back when I was playing in Little Big League. Adam is one of those people I got along with right away and just always really admired creatively. He's an amazing DP [Director of Photography] for House of Nod, and a great friend. I knew as soon as I got a budget that he was who I wanted to work with. I really love music videos, particularly ones that utilize a space and natural ways of interacting with it, so I knew I wanted to include a karaoke room and scenes in Flushing, Queens. I thought it was a fun way of just having a good time while shooting something, and would bring an authentic, fun vibe.
Adam and I are both huge Wong Kar Wai fans, and he'd just sent me an amazing mini doc on Christopher Doyle shooting neon signs in China, so we knew we wanted to play with light in a similar way. I also thought it would be funny to play with the trope of folk/rock frontman posing nonchalantly in a suit in the foreground with naked female models posing in the background, but switch the gender roles. There was a photo Richard Kern took of Nick Cave that was my particular source of inspiration. At the time the two scenes seemed pretty disparate, but Adam is a genius and makes it flow very seamlessly I think with the way he incorporates color and light.
What would you say were your biggest influences during the production and recording of Psychopomp?
At the time I was really into Tango in the Night era Fleetwood Mac. Christine McVie's synths and melodies are just so timeless. Lyrically, I was really drawn to these sort of tongue in cheek narratives of country singers, particularly Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, and Loretta Lynn.
What has been the biggest takeaway from this project and experience so far?
Well, this was intended to be my last album for awhile. I thought the music thing was never going to happen for me. I spent three years in a DIY punk band that felt like it wasn't going anywhere, so I wanted to finally set it aside and focus on a career or something. Psychopomp was meant to be one last album of material, where I was able to unapologetically follow and try to replicate what I heard in my head. I had really lost all confidence in myself and felt like no one cared about what I had to say or wanted to make, and luckily this album proved me wrong.
What is your favorite song to perform live and why?
Lately it's been "The Woman That Loves You." We just added another guitarist to the live set so I'm able to ham it up a bit more on the mic.
Any favorite places to hang out in the Bay Area?
Last time we were there my friend took us to The Marshall Store, and we got to splurge on dozens of oysters and a bottle of rosé by the Bay. The drive was so beautiful and it was such a fun time.
Written by Hensen Roque and Allyson Borunda
Enter to win a pair of passes to see Japanese Breakfast with Porches and Rivergazer at the Independent this Sunday, September 18th!
