Live music review: Japanese Breakfast closed LEVITATION with jubilant celebration

As Austin’s LEVITATION festival closed out on Halloween night, many fans still wore three or four wristbands from their full weekend of psych rock events the festival organized. Sundays can be a drudge for any festival, but the sold-out, costume-wearing Japanese Breakfast (J Brekkie, JP) crowd at Stubb’s BBQ proved that the Live Music Capital of the World is as vibrant as ever. J Brekkie closed out LEVITATION with a jubilant celebration.

Opener, SASAMI did everything in her power to steal the show as JB’s opener. While small, Sasami Ashworth’s discography shows a pretty wide range of genre-melding. A classically-trained composer, SASAMI gave every song a metal thrashing with intricate arrangements and plenty of breakdowns. Flanked by two band members who might as well have been dressed as Cousin Itt with their long hair shrouding their faces, SASAMI pulled out two Katana swords, slashing through the air before creating more dissonance with her guitar.

As the lights dimmed for the Japanese Breakfast set, two guards from Squid Game graced the stage. They stood motionless for what seemed like a full minute as the PA played the Netflix series theme. The rest of the band walked on, sporting the iconic prisoner outfits until Michelle Zauner arrived dressed as the killer robot doll from the show. 

Every great artist has an important story to tell. With her first two records, Zauner connected with fans by ruminating over anguish and grief atop a backdrop of guitar shoegaze. I felt a deep connection with her second record Soft Sounds from Another Planet, which served as escapism via layers of droning guitars.  

For her latest, aptly titled Jubilee, Zauner delivers a more grandiose sound with wider arrangements. It’s a celebration of life, digging deeper into existential lyrics against upbeat instrumentation. These songs animate the band more than the rest of their catalogue (per the gleeful “Everybody Wants to Love You”). The jubilation emerged in the very first song, as Zauner hit a gong to punctuate the chorus in “Paprika” before seguing to “Be Sweet”, one of the catchiest songs of 2021.

Zauner continued to frolic around the stage, bouncing and bopping like a fighter trying to stay loose or a sugar-crazed kid who ate too much Halloween candy. Whether holding a gong mallet, a microphone, a Fender Jaguar, or pointing at her adoring fans, Zauner makes use of the entire stage to connect with her fans

“Well, we almost died on our tour bus today,” said Zauner, casually. The band had woken up earlier that morning to a cries of “There’s a fire!” to start their day. Unsettling for sure, but the group handled it with grace and professionalism on stage.

JB then played “Glider”, a standout from Zauner’s recent video game score of Sable. This led into the ethereal beats of “Posing in Bondage” where Zauner’s soprano soared and then deliciously hung in the pleasantly cool, Texas evening air.

 

Shortly after the release of Jubilee, Zauner released her memoir, Crying in H Mart, which topped the NYT Bestseller list. The indie rock community can sometimes be a bit pretentious in celebrating their beloved acts’ rise to stardom. For Zauner, it’s refreshing to see talent get recognized in an authentic way as opposed to the posturing that typically comes from the hip, Brooklyn indie music scene.

“In a way this is where it all started,” said Zauner to the Austin crowd. “I played one show at SXSW and I never worked a day job again.”

Many musicians will continue their 9 to 5’s during the day as Japanese Breakfast move to the next tour stop. They can take solace in knowing that they’ll have Zauner’s art all around us through a book, a video game score, or the next Japanese Breakfast record as inspiration.

For fans of Japanese Breakfast, check out: DIIV, M83, Jay Som, Deerhunter, Wild Nothing