diff --git a/core/matching/__init__.py b/core/matching/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/core/matching/artist_aliases.py b/core/matching/artist_aliases.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1b1e5565
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/matching/artist_aliases.py
@@ -0,0 +1,175 @@
+"""Pure-function artist-name comparison with alias awareness.
+
+Issue #442 — cross-script artist quarantines
+-----------------------------------------------------
+
+A file tagged with one spelling of an artist's name (e.g. the
+Japanese kanji `澤野弘之`) was being quarantined when SoulSync's
+expected-artist metadata used the romanized spelling
+(`Hiroyuki Sawano`). Raw similarity comparison scores 0% across
+scripts even though MusicBrainz already knows both names belong to
+the same artist (its alias list).
+
+This module is the shared resolution helper. Given an expected
+artist name, an actual artist name, and an iterable of known
+aliases, it returns whether they should be treated as the same
+artist + the highest similarity score across the candidate set.
+
+Pure function design:
+- No I/O, no DB access, no network
+- Caller supplies aliases (looked up from library DB or live MB)
+- Caller supplies normalize + similarity functions to keep the
+  helper provider-neutral (the verifier and the matching engine
+  use slightly different normalizers — let each pass its own)
+- Returns ``(matched: bool, score: float)`` so callers can log
+  the score they made the decision on
+
+Backward compat: when ``aliases`` is empty (or the looking-up
+caller hasn't been wired yet), the helper degrades to a plain
+direct similarity comparison — identical to the pre-fix behaviour.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from difflib import SequenceMatcher
+from typing import Callable, Iterable, Optional, Tuple
+
+
+# Default threshold matches the existing ARTIST_MATCH_THRESHOLD in
+# core/acoustid_verification.py. Callers can override but the helper
+# defaults are tuned to preserve current verifier behaviour.
+DEFAULT_ARTIST_MATCH_THRESHOLD = 0.6
+
+
+def _default_normalize(text: str) -> str:
+    """Lowercase + strip whitespace. Minimal — caller's normaliser
+    almost always replaces this with something stricter (parenthetical
+    stripping, punctuation removal). Used only when the caller
+    doesn't pass a custom one."""
+    if not text:
+        return ''
+    return str(text).strip().lower()
+
+
+def _default_similarity(a: str, b: str) -> float:
+    """SequenceMatcher ratio after the default normaliser. Matches
+    the verifier's existing ``_similarity`` semantics for the no-
+    custom-callable path."""
+    na = _default_normalize(a)
+    nb = _default_normalize(b)
+    if not na or not nb:
+        return 0.0
+    if na == nb:
+        return 1.0
+    return SequenceMatcher(None, na, nb).ratio()
+
+
+def _coerce_aliases(aliases: Optional[Iterable[str]]) -> Tuple[str, ...]:
+    """Normalise the aliases input to a tuple of clean strings.
+
+    Accepts ``None``, empty iterables, lists, tuples, sets. Drops
+    None / empty / non-string entries silently — callers feeding us
+    raw MusicBrainz response dicts shouldn't have to clean first.
+    """
+    if not aliases:
+        return ()
+    cleaned = []
+    for value in aliases:
+        if value is None:
+            continue
+        text = str(value).strip()
+        if text:
+            cleaned.append(text)
+    return tuple(cleaned)
+
+
+def artist_names_match(
+    expected: str,
+    actual: str,
+    *,
+    aliases: Optional[Iterable[str]] = None,
+    threshold: float = DEFAULT_ARTIST_MATCH_THRESHOLD,
+    similarity: Optional[Callable[[str, str], float]] = None,
+) -> Tuple[bool, float]:
+    """Compare ``expected`` and ``actual`` artist names with alias
+    awareness.
+
+    Args:
+        expected: The artist name the caller expected (typically from
+            metadata-source data — Spotify / iTunes / Deezer track
+            payload).
+        actual: The artist name the caller observed (typically from
+            an AcoustID recording or a downloaded file's tag).
+        aliases: Iterable of known alternate spellings for ``expected``.
+            Each one gets compared against ``actual``; the best score
+            wins. Empty or omitted → plain direct comparison
+            (backward-compat with pre-fix behaviour).
+        threshold: Score at or above which we consider the names a
+            match. Defaults to 0.6 to match the verifier's existing
+            ``ARTIST_MATCH_THRESHOLD``.
+        similarity: Optional caller-supplied similarity function
+            ``(a, b) -> float in [0, 1]``. Lets the verifier pass its
+            stricter normaliser (parenthetical stripping etc.) without
+            this module having to know about it. Defaults to a
+            lowercase + SequenceMatcher comparison.
+
+    Returns:
+        ``(matched, best_score)`` where ``matched`` is True iff the
+        best score across (actual, *aliases) ≥ threshold and
+        ``best_score`` is that maximum. ``best_score`` is informative
+        for callers that want to log "matched at 0.83" or similar.
+    """
+    sim = similarity or _default_similarity
+
+    # Direct compare first — both for the fast path and so the
+    # returned score reflects the actual-vs-expected baseline (callers
+    # may want it for logging even when an alias is the actual winner).
+    direct_score = sim(expected, actual)
+    best_score = direct_score
+    if direct_score >= threshold:
+        return True, direct_score
+
+    # Alias compare: each alias is a known alternate spelling of the
+    # EXPECTED artist; match it against the ACTUAL name we observed.
+    # Highest score wins.
+    for alias in _coerce_aliases(aliases):
+        score = sim(alias, actual)
+        if score > best_score:
+            best_score = score
+        if score >= threshold:
+            return True, score
+
+    return False, best_score
+
+
+def best_alias_match(
+    expected: str,
+    actual: str,
+    aliases: Optional[Iterable[str]] = None,
+    *,
+    similarity: Optional[Callable[[str, str], float]] = None,
+) -> Tuple[Optional[str], float]:
+    """Return the alias that best matched ``actual`` (or None for the
+    direct expected-vs-actual comparison) and its score.
+
+    Companion to ``artist_names_match`` for callers that want to
+    surface which alias triggered the match (debug logging, UI
+    explanations). Doesn't apply a threshold — purely informative.
+
+    Returns:
+        ``(winner, score)`` where ``winner`` is the alias string when
+        an alias outscored the direct comparison, ``None`` when the
+        direct comparison won (or both tied at zero).
+    """
+    sim = similarity or _default_similarity
+    direct_score = sim(expected, actual)
+    winner: Optional[str] = None
+    best = direct_score
+
+    for alias in _coerce_aliases(aliases):
+        score = sim(alias, actual)
+        if score > best:
+            best = score
+            winner = alias
+
+    return winner, best
diff --git a/tests/matching/__init__.py b/tests/matching/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e69de29b
diff --git a/tests/matching/test_artist_aliases.py b/tests/matching/test_artist_aliases.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..382b5f81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/matching/test_artist_aliases.py
@@ -0,0 +1,264 @@
+"""Pin the alias-aware artist comparison helper.
+
+Issue #442 — files tagged with one spelling of an artist's name
+(Japanese kanji `澤野弘之`) were quarantined when SoulSync expected
+the romanized spelling (`Hiroyuki Sawano`). MusicBrainz aliases
+should bridge the two — this helper does the bridging.
+
+These tests cover the helper in total isolation: no DB, no network,
+no MusicBrainz client. Pure-function contract pinned at the right
+boundary so every consumer (verifier, matching engine, future
+callers) inherits the same correctness guarantees.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+
+from core.matching.artist_aliases import (
+    DEFAULT_ARTIST_MATCH_THRESHOLD,
+    artist_names_match,
+    best_alias_match,
+)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Direct compare path — no aliases
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestDirectCompareNoAliases:
+    def test_exact_match(self):
+        matched, score = artist_names_match('Foreigner', 'Foreigner')
+        assert matched is True
+        assert score == 1.0
+
+    def test_case_insensitive(self):
+        matched, score = artist_names_match('foreigner', 'FOREIGNER')
+        assert matched is True
+        assert score == 1.0
+
+    def test_whitespace_tolerant(self):
+        matched, score = artist_names_match('  Foreigner  ', 'Foreigner')
+        assert matched is True
+
+    def test_completely_different_artists(self):
+        matched, score = artist_names_match('Foreigner', 'Khalil Turk')
+        assert matched is False
+        assert score < DEFAULT_ARTIST_MATCH_THRESHOLD
+
+    def test_fuzzy_match_above_threshold(self):
+        # 'Beatles' vs 'The Beatles' — sim ~0.78
+        matched, score = artist_names_match('The Beatles', 'Beatles')
+        assert matched is True
+        assert score >= DEFAULT_ARTIST_MATCH_THRESHOLD
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Cross-script — the headline of issue #442
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestCrossScriptWithAliases:
+    def test_japanese_kanji_to_romanized(self):
+        """Reporter's case 1: file tagged 澤野弘之, expected
+        Hiroyuki Sawano. MusicBrainz alias `澤野弘之` on the artist
+        record bridges the two."""
+        matched, score = artist_names_match(
+            'Hiroyuki Sawano',
+            '澤野弘之',
+            aliases=['澤野弘之', 'SawanoHiroyuki', 'Sawano Hiroyuki'],
+        )
+        assert matched is True, (
+            f"Expected alias match for Japanese spelling; got matched=False score={score}"
+        )
+
+    def test_romanized_to_japanese_kanji(self):
+        """Symmetric direction — file tagged Hiroyuki Sawano, expected
+        澤野弘之. Aliases should resolve either way."""
+        matched, score = artist_names_match(
+            '澤野弘之',
+            'Hiroyuki Sawano',
+            aliases=['Hiroyuki Sawano', 'SawanoHiroyuki'],
+        )
+        assert matched is True
+
+    def test_cyrillic_to_latin(self):
+        """Reporter's case 2: file tagged Sergey Lazarev, expected
+        Сергей Лазарев."""
+        matched, score = artist_names_match(
+            'Сергей Лазарев',
+            'Sergey Lazarev',
+            aliases=['Sergey Lazarev', 'Sergei Lazarev'],
+        )
+        assert matched is True
+
+    def test_no_alias_match_falls_through_to_fail(self):
+        """Aliases provided but none match the actual artist —
+        should still fail. Aliases bridge synonyms, they don't mask
+        genuine mismatches."""
+        matched, score = artist_names_match(
+            'Hiroyuki Sawano',
+            'Khalil Turk',
+            aliases=['澤野弘之', 'SawanoHiroyuki'],
+        )
+        assert matched is False
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Aliases input handling — defensive coercion
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestAliasesInputCoercion:
+    def test_none_aliases_treated_as_empty(self):
+        matched, _ = artist_names_match('A', 'A', aliases=None)
+        assert matched is True
+
+    def test_empty_list_aliases(self):
+        matched, _ = artist_names_match('A', 'A', aliases=[])
+        assert matched is True
+
+    def test_aliases_can_be_set(self):
+        matched, _ = artist_names_match(
+            'Hiroyuki Sawano', '澤野弘之', aliases={'澤野弘之', 'SawanoHiroyuki'},
+        )
+        assert matched is True
+
+    def test_aliases_can_be_tuple(self):
+        matched, _ = artist_names_match(
+            'Hiroyuki Sawano', '澤野弘之', aliases=('澤野弘之',),
+        )
+        assert matched is True
+
+    def test_none_entries_in_aliases_skipped(self):
+        """Defensive: caller might pass aliases pulled directly from
+        a partial MB response. None / empty entries shouldn't crash."""
+        matched, _ = artist_names_match(
+            'Hiroyuki Sawano', '澤野弘之',
+            aliases=[None, '', '澤野弘之', None],
+        )
+        assert matched is True
+
+    def test_non_string_entries_coerced(self):
+        """Defensive: aliases parsed from JSON might surface as ints
+        or other non-string types. str() coercion in helper handles it."""
+        matched, _ = artist_names_match(
+            'A', '123', aliases=[123],
+        )
+        assert matched is True
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Threshold behaviour
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestThreshold:
+    def test_default_threshold_matches_verifier(self):
+        """Default threshold must equal the verifier's existing
+        ARTIST_MATCH_THRESHOLD so wiring the helper into the
+        verifier preserves current pass/fail semantics on the
+        no-alias path."""
+        assert DEFAULT_ARTIST_MATCH_THRESHOLD == 0.6
+
+    def test_custom_threshold_stricter(self):
+        # Direct comparison would normally pass at 0.6 default,
+        # but a stricter threshold should reject it.
+        matched, score = artist_names_match(
+            'The Beatles', 'Beatles', threshold=0.95,
+        )
+        assert matched is False
+
+    def test_custom_threshold_looser(self):
+        matched, score = artist_names_match(
+            'AAAAA', 'AAABB', threshold=0.4,
+        )
+        # ~0.6 sim, passes loose threshold
+        assert matched is True
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Custom similarity callable
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestCustomSimilarity:
+    def test_custom_sim_used_for_direct_compare(self):
+        """Caller (verifier) passes its own normaliser-aware
+        similarity. Helper must route through it instead of using
+        the default."""
+        def stricter(a, b):
+            # Always returns 0 — proves we're using the custom callable
+            return 0.0
+
+        matched, score = artist_names_match(
+            'Foreigner', 'Foreigner', similarity=stricter,
+        )
+        assert matched is False
+        assert score == 0.0
+
+    def test_custom_sim_used_for_alias_compare(self):
+        """Custom similarity also applies to alias scoring — not just
+        the direct comparison."""
+        def alias_only_perfect(a, b):
+            # Returns 1.0 only when comparing the alias 'aliasX'
+            return 1.0 if 'aliasX' in (a, b) else 0.0
+
+        matched, score = artist_names_match(
+            'Foreigner', 'observed',
+            aliases=['aliasX'],
+            similarity=alias_only_perfect,
+        )
+        assert matched is True
+        assert score == 1.0
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Best-alias-match introspection helper
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestBestAliasMatch:
+    def test_direct_wins_no_alias_winner(self):
+        winner, score = best_alias_match(
+            'Foreigner', 'Foreigner', aliases=['otherthing'],
+        )
+        assert winner is None
+        assert score == 1.0
+
+    def test_alias_wins_returns_alias(self):
+        winner, score = best_alias_match(
+            'Hiroyuki Sawano', '澤野弘之',
+            aliases=['澤野弘之', 'SawanoHiroyuki'],
+        )
+        assert winner == '澤野弘之'
+        assert score == 1.0
+
+    def test_no_aliases_just_direct_score(self):
+        winner, score = best_alias_match('A', 'B', aliases=None)
+        assert winner is None
+        assert isinstance(score, float)
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Backward compat — pre-fix behaviour preserved when no aliases
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+class TestBackwardCompatNoAliases:
+    """When callers don't supply aliases (initial wiring, or live MB
+    unreachable), the helper must behave EXACTLY like a direct
+    similarity check — no surprises for paths that haven't been
+    wired up to alias lookup yet."""
+
+    @pytest.mark.parametrize('expected,actual,should_match', [
+        ('Foreigner', 'Foreigner', True),       # exact
+        ('foreigner', 'FOREIGNER', True),        # case
+        ('The Beatles', 'Beatles', True),        # fuzzy passes
+        ('Foreigner', 'Khalil Turk', False),     # different
+        ('Hiroyuki Sawano', '澤野弘之', False),  # cross-script no aliases → fail (pre-fix behaviour)
+    ])
+    def test_no_alias_path_matches_direct_similarity(self, expected, actual, should_match):
+        matched, _ = artist_names_match(expected, actual)
+        assert matched is should_match