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Aug 27, 2021 By Mark Redfern Photography by Tonje Thilesen

Japanese Breakfast (aka Michelle Zauner) has done the soundtrack for the video game Sable, which will be released on September 24 via Sony Music Masterworks, the same date the game is due out. Now she has shared another song from the soundtrack, “Glider,” which she first teased way back in 2018. Listen below, followed by the soundtrack’s tracklist and cover art.

Zauner had this to say about the soundtrack in a press release: “I was so lucky Daniel Fineberg and Gregorios Kythreotis from Shedworks invited me onto this game so early on. I was immediately captivated by the world they’d built, a desert planet filled with mysterious natural and architectural wonders, and the story they’d imagined, one of a young girl coming of age through exploration. It was important to me that each biome in this world felt unique. I used woodwinds and vocal layering to make monumental ruins feel ancient and unknown, industrial samples and soft synths to make atomic ships feel cold and metallic, classical guitar and bright piano to make encampments feel cozy and familiar. I wanted the main themes to recall iconic works of Joe Hisaishi and Alan Menken, to fill the listener with the childlike wonder of someone on the precipice of a grand discovery.”

Sable is an open world adventure game from indie game developer Shed works and publisher Raw Fury and it will be available for the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

In June a trailer for the game was released that featured part of a new Japanese Breakfast song, “Better the Mask.” She previously performed “Glider” at the the Summer Game Fest livestream.

In June, Japanese Breakfast released a new album, Jubilee, via Dead Oceans (stream it here). At the time we posted our rave review of the album (read that here).

Japanese Breakfast is on the cover of our latest print issue (buy a copy directly from us here to read the in-depth cover story).

When Jubilee was announced Zauner shared its first single, “Be Sweet” (which was #1 on our Songs of the Week), and would later go on to perform it on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Then she shared a self-directed video for the album’s second single “Posing in Bondage,” which was also #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Then she shared its third single, “Savage Good Boy,” via a self-directed video in which she co-starred with actor Michael Imperioli of The Sopranos. “Savage Good Boy” was #2 on our Songs of the Week list. When the album was released, epic album closer “Posing For Cars,” was again #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Then she performed three songs from the album on CBS This Morning and was interviewed on the show. Then she performed “Paprika” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

In a previous press release, Zauner had this to say about her new album: “I’ve never wanted to rest on any laurels. I wanted to push it as far as it could go, inviting more people in and pushing myself as a composer, a producer, an arranger.”

Zauner’s most recent album, Soft Sounds From Another Planet, came out in July 2017 on Dead Oceans and was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2017.

Read our 2017 interview with Japanese Breakfast on Soft Sounds From Another Planet.

In April, Zauner put out her debut memoir, Crying In H Mart, on Knopf. The book debuted at #2 on The New York Times’ Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers List. Crying in H Mart is partly about the death of Zauner’s mother to cancer and how the two bonded over Korean food. It has since been announced that the book is being adapted into a feature film by MGM’s Orion Pictures. Japanese Breakfast is also doing the music for the film, which will be produced by Stacey Sher and Jason Kim. Read our review of Crying In H Mart.

Sable (Original Video Game Soundtrack) Tracklist:

1. Main Menu
2. Glider
3. Better the Mask
4. The Ewer (Day)
5. The Ewer (Night)
6. Eccria (Day)
7. Eccria (Night)
8. Campfires
9. Exploration (Ships)
10. Exploration (Ruins)
11. Exploration (Nature)
12. Beetle’s Nest
13. Glow Worm Cave
14. Pyraustas Ruin
15. Badlands (Night)
16. Hakoa (Day)
17. Hakoa (Night)
18. Sansee (Day)
19. Sansee (Night)
20. Redsee (Day)
21. The Wash (Day)
22. Chum Lair
23. Beetle Detour
24. Machinist’s Theme
25. Cartographer’s Theme
26. Mask Caster’s Theme
27. Mischievous Children
28. Ibexxi Camp (Day)
29. Ibexxi Camp (Night)
30. Burnt Oak Station (Day)
31. Burnt Oak Station (Night)
32. Abandoned Grounds

Japanese Breakfast Tour Dates:

8/28 - Lexington, KY @ Railbird Festival
9/10 - Boston, MA @ Royale * - SOLD OUT
9/11 - Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summer Stage - SOLD OUT
9/12 - Harrisburg, PA @ Harrisburg Midtown Arts Center *
9/14 - Columbus, OH @ The Athenaeum Theatre *
9/15 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall * - SOLD OUT
9/16 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall * - SOLD OUT
9/17 - Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall *
9/18 - Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre * - SOLD OUT
9/19 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave *
9/21 - Ogden, UT @ Ogden Twilight + - SOLD OUT
9/23 - Boise, ID @ Treefort Festival
9/24 - Eugene, OR @ WOW Hall * - SOLD OUT
9/25 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune * - SOLD OUT
9/26 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune * - SOLD OUT
9/27 - Seattle, WA @ Neptune * - SOLD OUT
9/28 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom * - SOLD OUT
9/30 - San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom * - SOLD OUT
10/1 - San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom * - SOLD OUT
10/2 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent * - SOLD OUT
10/3 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent * - SOLD OUT
10/4 - San Diego, CA @ Observatory North Park * -SOLD OUT
10/5 - Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl *
10/7 - Santa Fe, NM @ Meow Wolf * - SOLD OUT
10/8 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theater * - SOLD OUT
10/9 - Lawrence, KC @ Granada Theater *
10/10 - St Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall * - SOLD OUT
10/11 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall * - SOLD OUT
10/12 - Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall * - SOLD OUT
10/14 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel * - SOLD OUT
10/15 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel * - SOLD OUT
10/16 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel * - SOLD OUT
10/17 - Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Steel # - SOLD OUT
10/29 - Dallas, TX @ Studio at the Factory ^
10/30 - Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall ^
11/1 - San Antonio, TX @ Paper Tiger ^
11/3 - Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress (Outdoor Plaza) ^
11/4 - Tempe, AZ @ Coca-Cola Sun Deck at Sun Devil Stadium ^
11/7 - Berkeley, CA @ UC Theatre ^
11/9 - Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades ^
11/11 - Sonoma, CA @ Gundlach Bundschu Winery ^
11/12 - San Luis Obispo, CA @ Madonna Inn ^
11/13 - Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst ^
11/14 - Perris, CA @ Desert Daze ^
11/15 - Pomona, CA @ The Glass House ^ - SOLD OUT
10/16 - Pomona, CA @ The Glass House ^
3/25 - Bristol @ SXW
3/26 - Manchester @ Academy 2
3/27 - Glasgow @ St. Luke’s
3/28 - Leeds @ Brudenell Community Room
3/30 - London @ Kentish Town Forum

* w/ Luna Li
~ w/ Spirit of the Beehive
+ w/ Portugal. The Man
^ w/ SASAMI

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