Words by Skylar Sanders
Indie rock sensation Japanese Breakfast has left longtime fans and newly-initiated listeners wanting more after the release of the lead single for their upcoming album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), set to hit streaming on March 21. The album will be the band’s fourth official studio release, produced by Grammy-winning producer Blake Mills, who has collaborated with an impressive array of talent, including Bob Dylan and Fiona Apple. The album’s eighth track, titled “Men In Bars”, is set to feature Jeff Bridges.
The newly-released single, “Orlando in Love”, suggests the group is heading in a new direction. Compared to their previous lead singles, notably “Be Sweet”, which kicked off the band’s third (and Grammy-nominated) studio album, Jubilee, the track adopts a more introspective atmosphere. The official lyric video depicts frontwoman Michelle Zauner outfitted as a stylized sailor in the foreground, looking out towards an invisible sea. Vocalist and bassist of othersmayforgetyoubutnoti, Jungle, performs an interpretive dance in the background, depicted as Venus in a shell.
The track is short but undeniably sweet, a textural and effortlessly layered sensory experience reminiscent of a dreamscape that somehow manages to remain grounded by vivid descriptions of the physical. It draws upon European Romanticism and gothic themes, embracing a return to tradition in its subject matter and composition. With poignant commentary and reflection on longing and vulnerability, it is a striking portrait of desire.
A press release describes the track as a spin on John Cheever’s riff on “Orlando Innamorato”, an unfinished epic made up of 68 ½ cantos by Renaissance poet Matteo Maria Boiardo. The hero of the story is a poet who parks his Winnebago by the sea, meeting his fateful end after succumbing to a siren’s call. An impressive string orchestra backs Zauner’s ever-enchanting vocals as she relays the wistful retelling.
“Orlando in Love” is a fantastical tribute to long-lost poets and the desire-steeped myths that captivated and inspired them. If there was any doubt of Zauner’s Renaissance woman status, especially after the publication of her hit 2021 memoir “Crying In H Mart”, surely it has been stifled.
Loudspeaker Collective 