On Friday, March 21st Japanese Breakfast, Michelle Zauner’s band, will release her fourth album For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) via Dead Oceans Records. We’re pumped to hear the new album in full and invite you to join us in the record shop on release day for a collective listening experience. We’ll have posters to share as party favors for event attendees (while supplies last) and will also be sharing raffle tickets for your chance to score a Grimey’s gift certificate and a hardback copy of Zauner’s acclaimed memoir, Crying in H Mart. (There is no cost to participate in our raffle. Tickets are limited to one per attendee; must be present to win.)

Produced by Grammy Award winner Blake Mills, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) sees front-woman and songwriter Zauner pull back from the bright extroversion that defined its predecessor Jubilee to examine the darker waves that roil within, the moody, fecund field of melancholy, long held to be the psychic state of poets on the verge of inspiration. The result is an artistic statement of purpose: a mature, intricate, contemplative work that conjures the romantic thrill of a gothic novel. The album follows a transformative period in Zauner’s life during which her previous 2x GRAMMY nominated breakthrough album and her bestselling memoir catapulted her into the cultural mainstream, delivering on her deepest artistic ambitions. Reflecting on that success, Zauner came to appreciate the irony of desire, which so often commingles bliss and doom. “I felt seduced by getting what I always wanted,” she says. “I was flying too close to the sun, and I realized if I kept going I was going to die.”

You don’t need to be a melancholy brunette or a sad woman to attend (but bonus points for those who are!) This is a free and all ages affair! We’ll have plenty of copies of For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) available for purchase in the shop but feel free to go ahead and secure your copy by preordering the album on our site here. See you soon, Music City.