Japanese Breakfast will release their fourth album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), on March 21 via Dead Oceans. Grammy Award winning producer Blake Mills is sitting behind the boards on this one. It marks a change in front-woman and singer Michelle Zauner’s approach to making music — whereas 2021’s Jubilee found her exploring vivid extroverted vistas, this new one has her drawing back within herself, traversing darker avenues marked by periods of contemplative melancholy. Centered around the concept of desire and its many hazards, the album sheds some illumination on tragic figures of the past and Zauner’s own experiences with fame and ambition.
“I felt seduced by getting what I always wanted,” she says. “I was flying too close to the sun, and I realized if I kept going I was going to die.“
Lead single “Orlando in Love” was inspired by John Cheever’s interpretation of “Orlando Innamorato”, an unfinished epic made up of 68 ½ cantos by the Renaissance poet Matteo Maria Boiardo. An orchestra of strings swell around Zauner’s untethered voice as the song blooms, classical influences merging with her inimitable pop instincts. It’s striking and evocative yet elusive in execution, a proper declaration of mystery, giving us proximity but still leaving some things to the imagination.
There will also be a supporting tour that kicks off at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, CA. This is their first tour in three years, following their extensive schedule for the Jubilee Tour back ion 2022.
Listen to the song below, and check out the band’s upcoming tour dates.
Tour Dates:
Apr 12 & 19 – Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
Apr 23 – Austin, TX @ Moody Theater (ACL Live) *
Apr 24 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom *
Apr 26 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle *
Apr 27 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore *
Apr 28 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium *
May 3 – Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore *
May 5 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall *
May 7 – Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway *
May 9 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Paramount *
May 16 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia Presented by Highmark *
Jun 24 – Oslo, NO @ Rockefeller
Jun 25 – Stockholm, SE @ Filadelfia
Jun 26 – Copenhagen, DK @ VEGA
Jun 29 – Manchester, UK @ Academy 1
Jun 30 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland
Jul 3 – London, UK @ O2 Academy Brixton
Jul 4-6 – Ewijk, NL @ Down The Rabbit Hole 2025
Jul 8 – Paris, FR @ Le Trianon
July 10-12 – Bilbao, ES @ Bilbao BBK Live
Aug 20 – San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre *
Aug 28 – San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic *
Aug 30 – Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater *
Sep 1 – Vancouver, BC @ Orpheum Theater *
Sep 9 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory *
* w/ Ginger Root
For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is due out March 21 via Dead Oceans. You can pre-order the album here. Follow the band on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
