Japanese Breakfast Performs An Intimate ‘Melancholy' Recital In N.Y.C.
Japanese Breakfast at El Museo del Barrio on March 22, 2025.
Japanese Breakfast, the acclaimed indie pop group led by singer-songwriter Michelle Zauner, did something out of the ordinary this week to promote their record For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), which came out on Friday: they announced an impromptu special show at New York City's El Museo del Barrio that would consist of mostly unplugged versions of the new album's songs and old favorites.
'Unlike the boisterous Jubilee,' Zauner wrote in the concert's playbill, referring to the group's last album from 2021, 'For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) is quite delicate. It is our first album, I think, that has the ability to hold its own in a stripped down format as well as in its full production. As we've pared down the arrangements for this evening, I wanted the stage design to foreshadow our upcoming tour production in a similarly stripped down fashion, as if it were a grade school recital."
Japanese Breakfast at El Museo del Barrio on March 22, 2025.
In front of a packed audience, Saturday's concert at El Museo – a Halem-based museum devoted to Latino culture and art – certainly lived up to Zauner's vision. The intimate show featured only Zauner (in dress and makeup like an 18th- or 19th-century European character, similar to the one in the 'Orlando in Love' video), guitarist Peter Bradley and keyboardist Craig Hendrix accompanied by a three-piece string section performing all of For Melancholy Brunettes' exquisite songs – whose lyrics touch on the Icarus theme of those who fly too close to the sun.
Japanese Breakfast at El Museo del Barrio on March 22, 2025.
Even without the elaborate Romantic-leaning production and arrangements as heard on the new album, the unplugged arrangements of the songs during the show don't take away from their beauty and lyrical depth; rather they become more revealed from the charm of 'Orlando in Love' and 'Mega Circuit' to the dreamy 'Men in Bars' and 'Winter in L.A.' Zauner's spoken-word introduction to 'Leda,' in which shared its background story drawing from a period of estrangement from her father, was one of several poignant moments from the show.
Following the performance of the entire For Melancholy Brunettes album in the first two acts of the 'recital,' Zauner and her band performed a few older songs for the final act–including new takes of the buoyant 'Be Sweet' (which was a noticeable departure from its original synthpop incarnation), 'Kokomo, IN' and 'This House,' the penultimate track from Japanese Breakfast's 2017 second album Soft Sounds from Another Planet.
Japanese Breakfast at El Museo del Barrio on March 22, 2025.
Unsurprisingly, Japanese Breakfast received rousing applause at the end of this approximately one-hour show. It was a promising taste of what's to come from the band's tour, which is scheduled to kick off on April 12 at Coachella in Indio, California.
Setlist:
Act 1
Here Is Someone
Orlando in Love
Mega Circuit
Honey Water
Little Girl
Leda
Act 2
Picture Window
Men in Bars
Winter in L.A.
Magic Mountain
Act 3
Kokomo, IN
Boyish
Lindsey
Be Sweet
This House
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