The title track of Brandi Carlile‘s 2007 album The Story has taken on many lives over the last 15 years, including placement in that unforgettable Grey’s Anatomy musical episode. Today (October 4), yet another chapter was added to “The Story” lore. Japanese Breakfast has given us a touching cover of the song for The North Face’s sentimental “It’s More Than A Jacket” campaign.
“It’s a bit intimidating because there’s a lot of belting, which is typically not my wheelhouse,” Japanese Breakfast lead vocalist Michelle Zauner told WWD. “I wanted to create a stripped down version that relied more on an acoustic guitar and a really beautiful string arrangement and a strong vocal performance. Luckily, I had the opportunity to record it at Electric Lady Studios in New York. I feel like the key to recording these arrangements really well is to perform them — it’s really served by performing in a very high quality studio with a really talented engineer.”
Zauner added that she identified with The North Face’s campaign “as a storyteller,” noting, “As someone who works in many different mediums, I feel like that’s always sort of been my motivation — to tell these types of stories.”
The 90-second ad begins with an elderly man putting on his red North Face as photos from the past flicker across the screen. He zips it up and heads out from his cabin into the snow, coinciding with a young girl being zipped up in her purple North Face puffer. Various people explore while wearing North Face jackets — in the snow, on the mountains, by the fire. We’re left with a young woman, presumably our opening man’s granddaughter, taking his red jacket from the same coat hanger and putting it on.
The campaign debuts after The North Face mourned the death of Hilaree Nelson last week. The professional ski mountaineer and captain for North Face had gone missing on Mount Manaslu in Nepal. Last month, Japanese Breakfast canceled an upcoming Toronto show to attend the funeral of a friend.
Japanese Breakfast returned to the stage to open for Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ monumental hometown New York show at Forest Hills Stadium on Saturday (October 1). Japanese Breakfast’s remaining North American headlining Jubilee Tour dates are set to wind down this month before the alt-pop powerhouse supports Paramore on October 14 and hits the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
Listen to Japanese Breakfast’s full “The Story” cover above.