Father John Misty | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Singer/songwriter J. Tillmans music paints languid, sadly beautiful portraits of love and life on the margins with the moody depth of Nick Drake and the country-influenced textures of Ryan Adams. Tillman first made a name for himself playing drums in a pair of indie rock bands, Saxon Shore and Stately, while attending college in New York City. In his spare time, however, he began writing material of his own, citing the music of Nick Drake and Pete Seeger, and the writings of Flannery OConnor, as key influences. Some of Tillmans demos found their way to Damien Jurado, who invited Tillman to join his band for a tour. Tillman played solo sets during several dates on the tour and began distributing CD-R copies of an early collection of tunes called I Will Return. During the tour, he also struck up a friendship with Eric Fisher, who produced another CD-R album, Long May You Run, J. Tillman. Both Tillman and Jurado later signed on for a U.S. tour with Richard Buckner, where Tillman once again found a ready audience for home-burned copies of his disc. In 2006, the independent Fargo Records label released Tillmans first properly distributed solo album, Minor Works, and Keep Records reissued I Will Return/Long May You Run as a two-disc set the same year. In 2007, Yer Bird Records released Tillmans fourth, more elaborately arranged album, Cancer and Delirium. Although his solo work continued to garner critical acclaim, he briefly shifted focus in 2008 by joining Fleet Foxes. The group toured heavily in support of its debut album; meanwhile, Tillman continued working on his own material, releasing Year in the Kingdom in 2009. In 2011, Tillman left Fleet Foxes to concentrate on his many solo projects, adopting the pseudonym Father John Misty for 2012s Fear Fun, a 12-track collection of new material that infused the harmony-laden hymns of his former band with a patina of Gram Parsons and Harry Nilsson-informed, Laurel Canyon-inspired neo-psychedelia. In 2015 Tillman issued a second studio album under the moniker, the caustically funny and surprisingly sweet I Love You, Honeybear. The album received widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike, and was particularly lauded for its bold use of strong melodies, ironic and ornately romantic lyrics, and stellar arrangements. In May 2016, it became apparent that Tillman had also begun working on further material after he uploaded a new song to SoundCloud titled "Real Love Baby." He made headlines that summer when he cut his performance short at the XPoneNtial Festival in New Jersey after replacing his planned set list with a tirade about the empty values of entertainment and the rise of stupidity in popular culture and its effect on society. He then performed a cover of Leonard Cohens "Bird on the Wire" before abruptly leaving the stage. Later that year, he uploaded another new song to SoundCloud, "Holy Hell," and in late January 2017, announced his third album, Pure Comedy. Lyrically, the record touched on themes such as politics, social media, the environment, technology, and celebrity culture. Ahead of the albums release, Tillman promoted the effort with the title track and "Ballad of a Dying Man," along with an 1,800-word essay released to his online fan club about the symbolism involved in the record. Pure Comedy was released in early April 2017. The prolific artist returned in early 2018 with the singles "Mr. Tillman," "Just Dumb Enough to Try," and "Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All," ahead of the release of a new studio LP. Written during a six-week period when Tillman was living in a hotel, the resulting Gods Favorite Customer was released later that June. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 7 Title: Fear Fun Released: 2012-04-30 Tracks: 12 Duration: 43:39 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Funtimes in Babylon (03:39) 2 Nancy From Now On (03:54) 3 Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings (03:10) 4 I’m Writing a Novel (03:35) 5 O I Long to Feel Your Arms Around Me (02:23) 6 Misty’s Nightmares 1 & 2 (03:13) 7 Only Son of the Ladiesman (04:09) 8 This Is Sally Hatchet (03:57) 9 Well, You Can Do It Without Me (02:43) 10 Now I’m Learning to Love the War (04:16) 11 Tee Pees 1–12 (03:16) 12 Everyman Needs a Companion (05:19) |
| Fear Fun : Allmusic album Review : As J. Tillman, indie folk crooner Joshua Tillman painted sparse, often melancholic fever dreams that paired the wounded isolation of Nick Drake with the star-crossed country romanticism of Gram Parsons, a sensibility he also brought to the table as the drummer and backing vocalist for Seattles Fleet Foxes. His latest incarnation, Father John Misty, adds Harry Nilsson and Skip Spence to the mix, skillfully imbuing the woodsy Pacific Northwest bark of the Foxes with a patina of vintage Laurel Canyon-inspired bohemia. Fear Fun opens with "Funtimes in Babylon," one of three tracks, including "Only Son of the Ladiesman" and "Everyman Needs a Companion," closely echoing the hymnlike sonic breadth of his former band. All three cater to his strong, clear voice, which sounds like a cross between Mark Kozelek (Red House Painters, Sun Kil Moon) and Jonathan Meiburg (Shearwater/Okkervil River), but its tracks two and three that provide the album with its most transcendent moments. "Nancy from Now On," with its shambling protagonist ("Pour me another drink and punch me in the face"), likable gait, and legitimate yacht rock chorus, is a triumph of both style and substance, while the thick and brooding "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings," which ceaselessly wonders "Jesus Christ girl/What are people going to think?" amidst a wall of wet distortion and appropriately thunderous drums, benefits from singer/songwriter/Laurel Canyon scene revivalist Jonathan Wilsons warm and spacious production. Fear Funs deft mix of folly and grandeur strikes a nice balance between the over the top hippie shenanigans of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and the vapid, calculated debauchery of Lana Del Ray, painting the artist as a self-destructive/deprecating Californian gadfly with one foot in the Salton Sea and the other in the lobby of the Chateau Marmont. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 7 Title: The Demos Released: 2012-05-01 Tracks: 5 Duration: 19:16 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Funtimes in Babylon (03:37) 2 Nancy From Now On (03:48) 3 Sally Hatchet (02:38) 4 Nothing Hurts Worse (04:09) 5 Everyman Needs a Companion (05:02) |
 | Album: 3 of 7 Title: I Love You, Honeybear Released: 2015-02-09 Tracks: 11 Duration: 45:08 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Love You, Honeybear (04:41) 2 Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) (02:50) 3 True Affection (03:58) 4 The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt. (03:36) 5 When You’re Smiling and Astride Me (04:36) 6 Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow (04:36) 7 Strange Encounter (04:21) 8 The Ideal Husband (03:37) 9 Bored in the USA (04:22) 10 Holy Shit (04:03) 11 I Went to the Store One Day (04:27) |
| I Love You, Honeybear : Allmusic album Review : On 2012s Fear Fun, Josh Tillman introduced audiences to Father John Misty, a jaded and erudite, faux-bohemian retro-pop confectioner with a strong surrealist bent and an aptitude for capturing the American zeitgeist via wry couplets concerning the culturally and morally ambiguous wasteland of southern California. That penchant for gutter-highbrow confessionalism still looms large on his second long player, the lyrically and musically bold, and often quite beautiful, I Love You, Honeybear, but the drug-addled, disaffected Laurel Canyon drifter who served as the cruise director on Fear Fun has been replaced by a man trying to come to terms with the discombobulating effects of love, especially as it applies to his nihilistic alter-ego, which is mercilessly stripped of that ego throughout the 11-song set. The newly married Tillman is not incapable of self-effacing satire (witness the exhaustive "Exercises for Listening" instructional pamphlet, which is worth the price of the album alone), but he peppers those bone-wry moments ("I wanna take you in the kitchen/Lift up your wedding dress someone was probably murdered in," from the dizzying, weepy strings and cavernous percussion-laden title cut) with instances of real soulful brevity ("For love to find us of all people/Id never thought itd be so simple," from the exquisite, sparse, heartfelt closer "I Went to the Store One Day") -- the ballsy "Ideal Husband," a frantic laundry list of past digressions, best supports both predilections. Produced with great care once again by Jonathan Wilson, Honeybear has the architecture of its predecessor, but features braver melodic choices, and at a pure pop level, is the far more challenging LP of the two, but it rewards the listener constantly, whether its delivering the yin and the yang via electro-pop tomfoolery ("True Affection"), 70s soul-pop schmaltz ("When Youre Smiling and Astride Me"), or straight-up Randy Newman-inspired socio/political balladry ("Bored in the USA"), the latter of which even manages to incorporate a laugh track. Whether Tillman is maturing into the Father John Misty persona or vice versa is still up for debate, but theres no denying his growth as an artist, and I Love You, Honeybear, despite the occasional double entendre, is as powerful a statement about love in the vacuous, social media-obsessed early 21st century as it is a denouement of the detached hipster charlatan. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 7 Title: Live at Rough Trade Released: 2015-12-04 Tracks: 8 Duration: 36:37 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 I Love You Honeybear (04:01) 2 The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment (05:12) 3 Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) (03:50) 4 Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow (04:15) 5 Bored in the USA (05:17) 6 Holy Shit (04:41) 7 Now I’m Learning to Love the War (05:07) 8 I Went to the Store One Day (04:14) |
| Live at Rough Trade : Allmusic album Review : A limited-edition vinyl Rough Trade exclusive, Live at Rough Trade captures a February 25, 2015 performance at Rough Trade East in London by a solo Josh Tillman in the same month I Love You, Honeybear was released. It consists of seven tracks from that album and "Now Im Learning to Love the War" from Fear Fun. A consummate guy-and-acoustic-guitar performer after several years as a solo singer/songwriter before he created Father John Misty, the set has charm to spare and puts deserving focus on his vocal delivery and -- the stars of I Love You, Honeybear -- delightfully sardonic lyrics. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 7 Title: Pure Comedy Released: 2017-04-07 Tracks: 13 Duration: 1:14:26 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Pure Comedy (06:24) 2 Total Entertainment Forever (02:53) 3 Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution (04:18) 4 Ballad of the Dying Man (04:50) 5 Birdie (05:19) 6 Leaving LA (13:11) 7 A Bigger Paper Bag (04:41) 8 When the God of Love Returns There’ll Be Hell to Pay (04:04) 9 Smoochie (03:45) 10 Two Wildly Different Perspectives (03:12) 11 The Memo (05:16) 12 So I’m Growing Old on Magic Mountain (09:58) 13 In Twenty Years or So (06:27) |
| Pure Comedy : Allmusic album Review : Like anything that comes out of the mouth of Father John Misty -- the hipster gadfly persona Josh Tillman adopted after leaving the Fleet Foxes in 2012 -- it can be difficult to discern whether the title of Pure Comedy is intended sincerely. Father John Misty cherishes his public role as a prankster, a stance that can sometimes seem at odds with his grand artistic ambitions. And, make no mistake about it, Pure Comedy is indeed a very grand record, an old-fashioned major statement designed to evoke memories of classic long-players from the 70s. Often, its stately march and decorated pianos call to mind early Elton John, suggesting the hazy vistas of Madman Across the Water. This shift toward progressive pop underscores how Father John Misty has streamlined his music since I Love You, Honeybear, whittling away the minor feints toward modern music and stripping away lingering rustic folk influences. Hes now a postmodern troubadour, halfway between a song poet and a baroque craftsman. Where his antecedents (and clear influences) Leonard Cohen and Randy Newman sculpted their music and words, Tillman isnt quite so restrained. Hes a maximalist, overstuffing his lyrics with florid imagery and letting his songs spill out at lengths up to 13 minutes. From a certain angle, all this can play like an elaborate stunt -- particularly when he baits the listener with lines about "bedding Taylor Swift" -- but theres a strong melancholy undercurrent to Pure Comedy that suggests Father John Misty is something more than a jester. All of this can be felt through the music itself -- through the melodies and movement, through the arrangement and production -- and that, more than the verbal gymnastics, is why Pure Comedy delivers upon much of Father John Mistys outlandish promises. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 7 Title: God’s Favorite Customer Released: 2018-06-01 Tracks: 10 Duration: 38:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Hangout at the Gallows (04:55) 2 Mr. Tillman (03:03) 3 Just Dumb Enough to Try (04:02) 4 Date Night (02:30) 5 Please Don’t Die (03:24) 6 The Palace (04:09) 7 Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All (02:23) 8 God’s Favorite Customer (05:21) 9 The Songwriter (03:45) 10 We’re Only People (And There’s Not Much Anyone Can Do About That) (05:02) |
| God’s Favorite Customer : Allmusic album Review : Compared to Pure Comedy, the 2017 album that spread out over the course of 75 minutes, Gods Favorite Customer feels light and breezy. Thats intentional, of course. Father John Misty never makes a move that isnt considered, and Gods Favorite Customer is designed to be the digestif after a multi-course feast: a palette cleanser that riffs upon the flavors lingering on the tongue. Josh Tillman may strip away the excesses of Pure Comedy -- there isnt a track that comes close to ten minutes; the longest are just barely over five minutes -- but he still favors stately ballads that conjure the ghost of early Elton John, the troubadour who created burnished epics instead of sprightly pop tunes. Misty may have a way with a melody, particularly ones with a melodramatic flair, along with a fondness for lush, louche surroundings, a combination that carries a sordid allure, but hes also compelled to undercut his appeal by stepping on his own rakishness. Gods Favorite Customer is littered with asides and in-jokes, peaking with the winking self-parody of "Mr. Tillman" and bottoming on "The Palace," where Tillman offers the revelation "Last night I wrote a poem/Man, I mustve been in the poem zone." As Tillmans voice is pushed to the front of the mix -- theres no hiding from the many words of this singer/songwriter -- its difficult to avoid his lyrics, which will either play as devilishly clever or solipsistic slop depending on your perspective. Then again, that double edge is also by design: Father John Misty means to provoke and soothe in equal measure, which is precisely what he does on Gods Favorite Customer. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 7 Title: Live at Third Man Records Released: 2018-09-28 Tracks: 7 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 I Love You, Honeybear (?) 2 I’m Writing a Novel (?) 3 Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings (?) 4 Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) (?) 5 So I’m Growing Old on Magic Mountain (?) 6 Holy Shit (?) 7 Everyman Needs a Companion (?) |