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Music

Japanese Breakfast Announces A Moody New Album & Tour Dates

Hear the lead single now.

by Dylan Kickham

After the ecstatic Jubilee of their last album, Japanese Breakfast is riding a mood swing on their upcoming project, announced Jan. 7. The group’s fourth studio album is titled For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), and, as the name suggests, the new record promises to be a darker and more poetic rumination on complex emotions.

For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) marks Japanese Breakfast’s first proper studio release, after having crafted their first three albums in improvised recording spaces. It follows the breakthrough success of 2021’s Jubilee, which earned the band their first two Grammy nominations. Lead singer Michelle Zauner explains how that mainstream success influenced the central theme of this new album: desire leading to downfall.

“I felt seduced by getting what I always wanted,” Zauner says in a press release. “I was flying too close to the sun, and I realized if I kept going I was going to die.”

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On For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)’s lead single “Orlando in Love,” Zauner sings of a hero who becomes transfixed by a siren from the sea. True to the upcoming album’s theme, the sweet-sounding love song hides a grim undercurrent, as the woman leads Orlando to his demise in the waters.

Check out the track list below:

  1. Here is Someone
  2. Orlando in Love
  3. Honey Water
  4. Mega Circuit
  5. Little Girl
  6. Leda
  7. Picture Window
  8. Men in Bars (Feat. Jeff Bridges)
  9. Winter in LA
  10. Magic Mountain

Along with the album announcement, Japanese Breakfast has also unveiled tour dates to support the new release, kicking off with Coachella in the spring:

  • 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 2 - Chicago, IL @ Salt Shed *
  • 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 21 - Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
  • 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 23 - Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl *
  • Aug 28 - San Francisco, CA @ The Masonic *
  • Aug 30 - Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater *
  • Sep 1 - Vancouver, BC @ Orpheum Theater *
  • Sep 6 - Denver, CO @ The Mission Ballroom *
  • Sep 9 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Palace Theater *

* with Ginger Root

For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) will be released March 21.