Japanese Breakfast, Ginger Root

Michelle Zauner’s band has changed vibes many times from the auto-bio reflection in first album Psychopomp and sophomore effort Soft Sounds From Another Planet to 2021 release Jubilee, which represented a more fantastical and joyous narrative turn. New album For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) finds Zauner and bandmates Deven Craige, Craig Hendrix, and Peter Bradley (Zauner’s husband) traipsing through gothic romance fields – not watered by the sorrow of previous personal productions but an effervescent melancholy. The band graces the Moody Theater on a weekday, blanketing this fair city in a subtle yearning that will strike some to cry, some to love, and some to wear really elaborate costumes. Ginger Root opens with his self-described “aggressive elevator soul,” including viral moment “Loretta.” – James Scott