Japanese Breakfast Shares “Better The Mask” Clip from ‘Sable’ Video Game Soundtrack, Calls It ‘My Favorite Song I’ve Ever Written’

Sable, released last Friday, Sept. 24, is an experimental new soundtrack album from Japanese Breakfast, the musical project of singer/songwriter/bestselling author Michelle Zauner, to the video game of the same name.

Among the 32-track collection’s compositions, which dive into ambient sounds and vocal directions previously unexplored in Zauner’s catalog of music, is “Better The Mask,” a song that holds special significance for her.

Sharing a new performance clip of the song, she explained:

“I wrote ‘Better the Mask’ during lockdown. To pass the time, I found myself turning to the piano, practicing intently for the first time in years, and putting together what would become my favorite song I’ve ever written. ‘Better the Mask’ also features the first string arrangement I devised solely on my own.

“In this video, which was shot by Adam Kolodny at Electric Lady, Quartet 121 brings that arrangement to life with Molly Germer and Julia Suh on violin, Lena Vidulich on viola and Thea Mesirow on cello.”

“Glider” also received a music video featuring animations from the video game:

Said Zauner of her experience working on this soundtrack album:

“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.”

Click here to pre-order Sable on 2-LP from our Rock Cellar Store
Click here to pre-order Sable on CD from our Rock Cellar Store

Zauner is out on the road with her band promoting Jubilee, her 2021 studio album, which was released in June to rapturous acclaim. The buzz of the album, as well as Crying in H Mart, Zauner’s memoir which made her a New York Times Bestselling author, fueled anticipation for a fall tour which is currently going on right now. The remaining tour dates:

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 ^
10/31 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s (Levitation)
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 ^ – SOLD OUT
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
11/16 – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House ^
3/13 – Madrid, ES @ Sala Independence
3/14 – Barcelona, ES @ Sala Apolo
3/16 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquineire
3/17 – Antwerp, BE @ Trix
3/19 – Amsterdam, NE @ Paradiso Noord
3/20 – Hamburg, HH @ Molotow Musikclub
3/21 – Copenhagen, DE @ Hotel Cecil
3/22 – Berlin, DE @ Franzz Club
3/23 – Cologne, DE @ Luxor
3/25 – Bristol, UK @ SXW
3/26 – Manchester, UK @ Academy 2
3/27 – Glasgow, UK @ St. Luke’s
3/28 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Community Room
3/30 – London, UK @ Kentish Town Forum
6/9 – Porto, PT @ NOS Primavera Sound Festival

* w/ Luna Li
^ w/ SASAMI