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How Japanese Breakfast Crafted The Sounds Of The New Game 'Sable'

The new game <em>Sable</em> features a soundtrack from Michelle Zauner, best known as the indie-rock star behind the band Japanese Breakfast.
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The new game Sable features a soundtrack from Michelle Zauner, best known as the indie-rock star behind the band Japanese Breakfast.

"I grew up playing video games, since I was probably five years old," says Michelle Zauner, better known as the brilliant songwriter behind Japanese Breakfast. She and her dad would play Super Nintendo together: "The two of us really loved this RPG [role-playing game] called Secrets of Mana. After school, at night in the den, we would play ... I think that was the first time I realized that games could be a real art form."

That love of games and the artistic talent she's now famous for came together in Zauner's latest project: composing the soundtrack for a new, open-world role-playing video game called Sable. Today on All Things Considered, Zauner explains her long history with games, the thematic inspirations behind her choices for the soundtrack (including some indirect help from Yo La Tengo) and how her work on it led to her writing "maybe the most beautiful song" she's ever put pen to paper on.

Listen to the full story in the audio player above, and hear a piece from Zauner's soundtrack below.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.