Japanese Breakfast: Soft Sounds from Another Planet

With a meandering, six-minute-plus sci-fi-sounding opening track, it was clear that Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner was out to make music that was beyond the three-minute-pop found on her solo debut, Pyschopomp. The more I dug into Soft Sounds From Another Planet, Zauner's follow-up album, the more I wanted to know. There are references to robot love ("Machinist"), deep love ("Till Death"), a lap-steel guitar solo ("Soft Sounds From Another Planet") and the Grandaddy-inspired synth-pop of "Body is a Blade."

So we asked Michelle Zauner to walk us through her second album, track by track. It's a record that deals with the saddest parts of life, in this case the loss of her mom, as well as the magic of life — including her recent marriage to Psychopomp bassist Peter Bradley.

Diving Woman

"There's an island in South Korea called Jeju that's famous for its female divers, [who are called] . With each dive, many can plunge up to that lifestyle, of regimen and endurance, was inspiring to me, particularly during a time when I was touring a lot. I think this song is also partially about feeling guilty about being a touring woman, and the fear that people were judging me for putting my career above having a family.