Soft Sounds from Another Planet

On her sophomore album, Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner seeks grounding in an unlikely place: outer space. Her evocative metaphors and hefty subject matter find lightness in shimmery, spacey electronics, most potently on the expansive, krautrock-like opener "Diving Woman." She deals with femininity and sexuality in synth-pop reveries like "Road Head" and the Auto-Tune-enhanced "Machinist," and cuts deep into trauma ("The Body Is a Blade") and grief ("Till Death") by finding comfort in ‘90s indie guitar pop, fluttering keyboards, and gentle wafts of mournful horns.