ALC #19: Jubilee

[Hayden]

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Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee (Bandcamp)

Sounds like: The sadness which seeps after a night of consuming party drug soup dumplings, yet the memories of the good times persist.
Origin: US / SK
Genre: Indie pop
Drink of choice: Spiced yuzu lemonade with a twist

Look! Persimmons!
Ah, persimmons.

A jubilee is a jamboree with less amor and more uil, which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but at least we’ve steeped an album out of it.

I remember when I first heard Everybody Wants To Love You and all going through my head was how I used to hang in studios with so many singer/songwriters who would have loved to create something like that. Felt like she nailed it. That was it. Absolute bullet. Questioned why she wasn’t bigger, why this wasn’t the smash of the summer, track of the year, blasting out of every car whipping down the beach front. Felt like a nugget of gold was tossed into a mall’s wish fountain. An epitome of indie pop fired at us from nowhere and we shrugged it off. We plucked it out of that wish fountain on occasion, but I’m still not quite sure people realized it was an actual gold nugget.

Won’t lie, wasn’t super hot on her follow up record, but at least she gained momentum. Was happy about that. Knew the next release would be make or break time. And then something interesting happened. She was shot out of a canon. That same brain listening to Everybody Wants To Love You for the first time would have never imagined this singer would be topping bestseller lists while also having chart topping hits, but I’m glad Japanese Breakfast squeezed through the crowd. Think she made it with this one.

A warm, glistening, citrus-burst of a record with a summertime fuzz and the sadness which comes along with it, a hug for tears happy or sad. I may be writing to Ms. Breakfast as to why she dedicates the final thirty seconds of her songs to building them, but otherwise, I think this record is everything it wants to be.

Standouts: Posing In Bondage, Kokomo, IN., Sit, Be Sweet

[Repo]

Fantastic write-up, Hayden!!!

[EyeKanFly]

Great pick, I have been really digging this album. This and the Olivia Rodrigo that both dropped around the same time really surprised me.

I also was surprised that Japanese Breakfast is the same artist who made some sort of run-of-the-mill indie stuff about 5 years ago, this has a totally different vibe and I'm sorta glad she hit it big. Some similarities to Mitski early in their careers, but they went in different directions.

Might have to go back and listen to Japanese Breakfast's early stuff. I have no recollection of "Everybody Wants To Love You" standing out.
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51 Washington, D.C. albums!

[Hayden]