Japanese Breakfast

Japanese Breakfast

Japanese Breakfast is the indie pop and indie rock project of Michelle Zauner, based in Philadelphia and active since 2013. It functions as Zauner’s solo project and band, with Craig Hendrix also listed as a member.

Origins and early releases

Zauner, a Korean-American musician who has also been associated with Little Girl, Big Spoon, Post Post and Little Big League, begins recording under the Japanese Breakfast name in 2013. She releases the tape June in June of that year, with 30 tracks written and recorded one per day. The release marks a shift away from Little Big League’s guitar-led indie rock towards a more lo-fi, bedroom-pop approach, with darker lyrics, distinctive vocals and a focus on melody.

Two more bedroom-pop cassettes follow before the project’s first full-length album, Psychopomp, appears on vinyl. The record combines experimental elements with a wide range of sounds, including anime samples, minimalist ballads, and synth-driven passages. It also draws on comparisons to late-period Fleetwood Mac and the intimacy of Mount Eerie.

Albums and singles

Japanese Breakfast continues to develop a more experimental sound on the 2017 album Soft Sounds From Another Planet. In 2019, the project releases two singles through the W Hotels music label: “Essentially” and a cover of Tears for Fears’ “Head Over Heels”.

In 2021, Zauner releases the third studio album Jubilee, preceded by the singles “Be Sweet”, “Posing in Bondage” and “Savage Good Boy”. In 2025, she releases the fourth studio album For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), preceded by the singles “Orlando in Love” and “Mega Circuit”.