The title is objectively cringe, and the two pre-release singles breezed past me without making much of an impression — so I’m as surprised as anyone how much I’m enjoying Japanese Breakfast’s fourth album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women).
Like the singles “Orlando in Love” and “Mega Circuit” suggested, this isn’t an album that piles on pop hooks — there’s no “Be Sweet” this time around. But it’s full of swooning melodrama, with lavish strings and even a countrified duet with Jeff Bridges.
The dreamy, droning march of “Honey Water” and chipper chug-a-lug of “Picture Window” add some rhythmic urgency to an album fixated on loss, anxiety and emotional distance. With its major keys, swooning beauty and brisk 32-minute runtime, Melancholy Brunettes sounds contented in its sorrow — sad, but still able to find the romance in that feeling.
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