Psychopomp (album) explained

Psychopomp
Type:Studio
Artist:Japanese Breakfast
Cover:Japanese Breakfast - Psychopomp.jpg
Released:April 1, 2016
Recorded:2014–2015
Studio:CR Ensemble; Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
Length:25:11
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Psychopomp is the debut studio album by Japanese Breakfast, the solo musical project of Michelle Zauner of Little Big League. The album was released in the U.S. through Yellow K Records on April 1, 2016, and re-released internationally through Dead Oceans on August 19, 2016.

Background

Michelle Zauner fronted the Philadelphian emo band Little Big League from 2011 until 2014,[1] when she returned to her hometown of Eugene, Oregon, where her mother had been diagnosed with cancer.[1]

While tending to her family in Oregon, Zauner began recording solo music as a self-meditative and "instant-gratification" feeling[2] and because she found she had more to say after Tropical Jinx, the 2014 studio album by Little Big League. The work led to Psychopomp, published under her project Japanese Breakfast. Zauner said she chose the name "Japanese Breakfast" to juxtapose Asian exoticism and American culture.[3] Psychopomp is named after the creature of the same name, which Zauner learned of in an essay by Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung.[4]

Zauner described the debut album as quite "dark and heavy-handed", although she had a desire to make the music urgent[5] and "sonically upbeat."[2] In the album, she discusses regret of not being there with her mother and her decision to get married before her mother went into a coma.[2]

The album's cover features a photograph of Zauner's mother in her twenties, left, with an old friend in Seoul, Zauner wrote in her 2021 memoir Crying in H Mart.[6]

Zauner, whose mother was Korean and her father Jewish American, has said she hopes that her work can help persuade more Asian Americans to get involved in music.

Release and promotion

The album's rollout saw the release of three singles: "In Heaven," "Everybody Wants To Love You" and "The Woman That Loves You. "In Heaven," was released on January 20, 2016 and premiered via Stereogum as the album's lead single.[7] "Everybody Wants to Love You" and "The Woman That Loves You" were released on February 18 and March 8 respectively.[8] The latter track was premiered via The Fader.[9] The album itself was released on April 1, 2016 in the US. After Japanese Breakfast signed to the record label Dead Oceans, Psychopomp was re-released internationally, both of on August 19, 2016.[10]

Promotion

To promote the album, Zauner opened for Japanese-American singer-songwriter Mitski alongside American singer Jay Som.[11] Later the same year, she performed in the UK to promote Psychopomp's then upcoming international re-release. Following these performances, Zauner toured with American band Porches in a joint tour to promote their respective albums.[12]

Composition

Psychopomp is a dream pop,[13] indie pop, and lo-fi album. According to AllMusic's Tim Sendra, "the album has all the hallmarks of a homemade lo-fi album, but also has the feel of a wobbly '80s pop album played on a long-lost cassette." Sendra also wrote that the album's sound shifts between "guitar-lashed indie rock with swooping synths ("Rugged Country"), melancholy ballads played on tear-stained keys ("Jane Cum," "Triple 7"), driving pop/rock with pumped-up hooks ("Everybody Wants to Love You"), and bass-heavy, almost painfully heartfelt indie rock ("Heft")". Nina Corcocan of Consequence of Sound wrote: "It's lo-fi heart with detailed production, the type of pop that feels homey and familiar — which is doubly surprising given Zauner’s other band, Little Big League, is full of jock riffs and chunky guitar rock." PopMatters Jasper Bruce thought that the album serves "cocktails of electronic, garage rock and lyrical vocals."

Critical reception

Psychopomp received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 76, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on five reviews. AllMusic critic Tim Sendra, who described the record as "an impressive work by an artist well worth watching in the future", wrote, "Zauner's songs don't need dressing up; time and again she and Eisenberg make the right choices that allow the melodies to breathe and the emotions to flow unhindered by artifice." Consequence of Sounds Nina Corcoran wrote, "Psychopomp chases joy while replicating it in the process, leaving you full of the belief that this could be your year after all." Pitchfork critic Laura Snapes wrote that the record "offers much more than that: at once cosmically huge and acutely personal, Zauner captures grief for the perversely intimate yet overwhelming pain it is. Long may she keep at this music thing." PopMatters Jasper Bruce wrote that Psychopomp "juggles spacy soundscapes with insistent, driving grooves. For the most part, the record pulls off this balancing act seemingly effortlessly and with style." Spin critic Anna Gaca described it as "a sharp-edged exploration of how loneliness and longing form into brittle personal shields."

PopMatters listed the album as number 3 on its list of "The 10 Best Shoegaze and Dream Pop Albums of 2016".[14]

Personnel

Musicians

Production

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Teo-Blockey . Celine . September 15, 2016 . Interview: Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner on death and 'Psychopomp' . . . December 25, 2016 . December 25, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161225145424/http://www.axs.com/interview-japanese-breakfast-s-michelle-zauner-on-death-and-psychopomp-106581 . live .
  2. Web site: Hannah . Andy . October 18, 2016 . In the Rugged Country: Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast tells Andy Hannah about the loss which brought her back to the Pacific Northwest. . . December 24, 2016 . December 25, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161225170039/https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/longread/in-the-rugged-country-japanese-breakfast . live .
  3. Web site: Champ . Christine . July 1, 2016 . An Interview with Michelle Zauner, The One Big Boss Lady Who Is Japanese Breakfast . . . December 24, 2016 . August 15, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190815190439/http://frontrowboston.wgbh.org/interview-michelle-zauner-one-big-boss-lady-japanese-breakfast/ . live .
  4. Web site: Mescher . Daniel . 2016-10-11 . Japanese Breakfast's 'Psychopomp' Reflects On Dreams And Death . 2022-07-30 . Colorado Public Radio . en . 2023-10-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231018220017/https://www.cpr.org/podcast-episode/japanese-breakfasts-psychopomp-reflects-on-dreams-and-death/ . live .
  5. Web site: Gardin. Russell. Pop Music Has A Sense of Urgency: An Interview With Japanese Breakfast. Free Press Houston. June 28, 2016. December 25, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161225145458/http://www.freepresshouston.com/pop-music-has-a-sense-of-urgency-an-interview-with-japanese-breakfast/. December 25, 2016. dead.
  6. Book: Zauner, Michelle . . . 2021 . 978-0-525-65774-3 . en.
  7. Web site: Rettig . James . 2016-01-20 . Japanese Breakfast – "In Heaven" (Stereogum Premiere) . 2023-04-22 . Stereogum . en . 2023-03-14 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230314182541/https://www.stereogum.com/1854241/japanese-breakfast-in-heaven-stereogum-premiere/news/ . live .
  8. Web site: Moreland . Quinn . 2016-02-18 . Japanese Breakfast: "Everybody Wants to Love You" . 2023-04-22 . Pitchfork . . en-US . 2023-03-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230322120833/https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/17998-japanese-breakfast-everybody-wants-to-love-you/ . live .
  9. Web site: McDermott . Patrick D. . 2016-03-08 . Listen To Japanese Breakfast's Dazzling "The Woman That Loves You" . 2023-04-22 . The FADER . en . 2023-04-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230422182608/https://www.thefader.com/2016/03/08/listen-to-japanese-breakfasts-dazzling-the-woman-that-loves-you . live .
  10. Web site: Gaca . Anna . 2016-06-23 . Japanese Breakfast Shares 'Jane Cum' Video, Signs to Dead Oceans . 2023-04-22 . Spin . Eldridge Industries . 2022-04-16 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220416011526/https://www.spin.com/2016/06/japanese-breakfast-jane-cum-video-dead-oceans-signing/ . live .
  11. Web site: Sperry-Fromm . Rob . 2016-07-08 . Mitski, Japanese Breakfast, and Jay Som on tour, played the Echoplex in LA (review) . 2023-04-22 . BrooklynVegan . en . 2023-04-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230422182608/https://www.brooklynvegan.com/mitski-japanese-breakfast-and-jay-som-played-the-echoplex-in-la-review/ . live .
  12. Web site: Pearce . Sheldon . 2016-07-26 . Porches and Japanese Breakfast Announce Tour . 2023-04-22 . Pitchfork . . en-US . 2023-04-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230422182608/https://pitchfork.com/news/67092-porches-and-japanese-breakfast-announce-tour/ . live .
  13. Web site: Japanese Breakfast's 'Machinist' Is A Melancholy Story Of Sci-Fi Love. Gotrich. Lars. May 4, 2017. NPR. May 31, 2017. August 15, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190815190439/https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2017/05/04/526762029/japanese-breakfasts-machinist-is-a-sci-fi-love-story. live.
  14. Web site: The 10 Best Shoegaze and Dream Pop Albums of 2016. PopMatters. December 21, 2016. July 17, 2017. King. Ian. July 22, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170722020549/http://www.popmatters.com/feature/the-10-best-shoegaze-and-dream-pop-albums-of-2016/P1/. live.