Father John Misty - Bored in the Usa

Introduction – The Years in the Kingdom

Joshua Michael Tillman was born in America, in Rockville, Maryland, on May 3, 1981. The little we know about his early years is useful for understanding certain distinctive traits and tendencies in his artistic path. Through interviews, glimpses of his childhood and adolescence have emerged: his parents were missionaries in Ethiopia, and he was the eldest of their four children. Contact with the outside world was scarce (he first listened to the Beatles at the age of eighteen!) and filtered through a strict religious upbringing. It was already quite something to get hold of the converted Bob Dylan of "Slow Train Coming" and "The Joshua Tree" by U2, disguised as Christian music. In the case of Bono and co.'s masterpiece, the title may well have helped the choice along. Joshua started out playing drums, then guitar, at twelve, alongside his younger brother, a year his junior. He had no interest in becoming a six-string virtuoso; the priority was a means, a vehicle, for the things he had to say. The definitive break with that world of apocalypses and demons to be exorcised came after a year at Nyack College in New York, a private Christian university, before he moved on to Seattle. A location associated with the historic names of grunge (Tillman favors Alice in Chains), which was gradually becoming known for its valuable folk scene as well. He took humble jobs to survive, but they gave him the chance to start recording his first songs.

Before: visions of a tormented mind

A room, faint light filtering through the windows, a guitar on the bed amid unmade sheets, a tape recorder nearby. An intimate atmosphere, ideal for letting as many thoughts and emotions as possible pour out of one's head. These are the first images evoked by the works released under the name J. Tillman. After Business Of The Heart, a demo recorded at Bluebrick Recordings that was never officially released and remains almost impossible to find or even hear today, 2003 saw the release of Untitled No. 1 on Broken Factory.

Dominated by a fragile, tragically subdued voice and guitar trapped in background hiss, it's an uncompromising listen. Occasionally, the compositions are embellished by the touch of a piano. The short lyrics swing between romantic glimpses ("Let Me Put You Under Both My Wings") and the bitterness of a finished relationship ("Ties That Bind"). The pace is very slow, the words drawn out, almost suspended in air. In the pauses, you can hear Tillman clearing his throat: good take, first try.

During these years Tillman was also busy with Saxon Shore, a post-rock collective founded together with guitarist Matthew Doty. He was involved in the project for its first two albums: Be A Bright Blue in 2002 and Four Months Of Darkness the following year. His rhythm work blends with the clean guitar arpeggios across the seven tracks of the debut and the five compositions of the following chapter, making for a pleasant half-hour listen in both cases.

This twilight, aching lo-fi sound, steeped in anguished reflections and inner battles, would mark Tillman's first phase as a singer-songwriter. His early steps caught the attention of Damien Jurado, who invited the young musician to open his shows. Another self-produced effort is I Will Return from 2004, opened by the heavy string sound of "Lilac Hem". What follows are the bleak family scenarios of "Your Mother's Ghost" and "This Jealous Blood", while a banjo and biblical references characterize "An Occurrence At The River Jordan". A passage worth remembering, steeped in sin, love and redemption, is "Cecille, My Love".

Standing out on Long May You Run, J. Tillman are the lengthy "Trail Of Red, Bride In White", carried by ghostly strings, and "Seven States Across", embellished with the biblical reference to the episode of Samson and the honey in the lion's head: "There is honey in the lion/ I can't slay it". A line that would later become the title of an album by one of Seattle's most celebrated sonic excellences, Earth. In an interview, Tillman stated that he admires Dylan Carlson's production work.

This portion of his discography has often been compared to Mark Kozelek, more for the vocal style and extreme sparseness; yet, if we really wanted to draw a parallel, the more fitting name would be Samuel Ervin Beam, better known as Iron & Wine. A singer-songwriter with a strong religious background (though now an atheist), capable of weaving wonderful melodies and lyrics steeped in emotion and glimpses drawn from scripture. The same approach marks their first steps (voice, guitar and a tape recorder) and the providential contribution of a fellow musician, again from the Seattle scene. In Iron & Wine's case, it was Michael Bridwell, brother of the singer of Band Of Horses.

For the Maryland musician, things started moving in 2006. A first label, Fargo, reissued I Will Return and Long May You Run, J. Tillman (previously released by Keep Recordings in a limited edition of 150 copies) and put out the new Minor Works: from the latter, worth noting is "Darling Night".

Written in Paris under the spell of Henry Miller's "Tropic of Cancer", the following Cancer And Delirium (Yer Bird, 2007) - with its rather telling title and the singer's face looming on the black-and-white cover - gains even more visibility while still staying within cult circles. "Visions Of A Troubled Mind" is a weighted-down lament, and the lyrics are minimal vignettes with faint tints ready to blur their own outlines. Once again, this is a work dominated by the voice and its words, with the guitar kept at a distance and the few other instruments "scattered" around the frame: "When I Light Your Darkened Door", amid hisses, drums (a compositional first) and piano; banjo and backing vocals supporting "Ribbons Of Glass".

Tillman's creative streak shows no sign of slowing down, and between 2009 and 2010 Western Vinyl released the last three records under the J. Tillman name. All this while our man had become the drummer for Fleet Foxes. It's a role he would hold from 2008 (when recording of the self-titled debut had just wrapped) right up to the tour following Helplessness Blues, released in 2011. It's on this record that we can really appreciate Tillman's contribution. His stint with Robin Pecknold's band was significant (Tillman would also open the band's shows "solo") but not without friction. After the Japan date on January 20, 2012, the drummer announced he was leaving the group. Relations had been strained for a while, and his first public comments were bitter. On his tumblr he wrote: "Farewell Fleet Fans and Friends. Back into the gaping maw of obscurity I go. Tokyo is my last show with the Foxes. Sorry if I was distant and obtuse if we ever met. Have fun". A possible reconciliation appeared on the horizon in 2017, when the former member spoke favorably about Crack-Up.

But let's get back to J. Tillman's discography. Vacilando Territory Blues is the first album released while he was the Fleet Foxes' drummer, and the author himself described it as "a record about the anguish of making a record". It has elements of continuity as well as new choices. On "James Blues" the vocal performance is accompanied by handclapping, the clatter of drumsticks and piano. Then comes the real novelty: "Steel On Steel", driven by the drumming and flashes of six-string guitar. Along this trail of new sounds for Tillman's solo path, worth noting are the flashes of "Laborless Land" and "New Imperial Grand Blues", perhaps the most commercial track (take that term with a huge grain of salt) Misty has ever written. Counterbalancing it are the dusty, western-tinged seven minutes of "Barter Blues", opened by the sharp sound of a banjo and topped in its crescendo by a heavy swell of strings and a distorted, noisy closing coda. The closing track is "Vacilando Territory", centered on the story of his move to Seattle.

Year In The Kingdom (Western Vinyl, 2009) is more crystalline. The chords shimmer ("Howling Light"), ready to soar into the air ("Crosswinds"), without forgetting the grafts of its predecessor ("Earthly Bodies" and "There Is No Good In Me"). Yet here he sounds sparer than ever on "Age Of Man" and "Though I Have Wronged You". Tillman's torrential creative flow shows no sign of stopping, as proven by the single "Wild Honey Never Stolen/Borne Away On A Black Barge", whose second track stands out for its gospel-tinged flourish.

Steeped in torment and God, Singing Ax is a return to the barest essentials, recorded in just a few days. Steve Albini handled production. On this last record under the moniker - one practically disowned by its own author - the lyrics take on highly evocative and captivating qualities, moving between biblical inspiration and cryptic scenes ("Three Sisters"). His voice begins to reveal greater strength and reaches new registers, as on "Our Beloved Tyrant", where the tyrant in question could just as easily be a god as a father.

Critics reviewed it favorably, and his name was by then well known on Seattle's thriving folk scene, but perhaps a strange idea was already starting to take shape in Tillman's head. Perhaps it was time for a major change.

We've reached 2010, and the scene is set: Big Sur, magic mushrooms, and a tree. Tillman wanders the coast in search of himself and ends up "mildly" altered by substances, sitting naked on a branch. However much the episode teeters between comic and tragic, what followed from that epiphany laid the groundwork for Father John Misty. A new name, a mask, an identity with which to carry forward the ideas of his previous musical life while also giving vent to aspects he'd previously kept in check. On the matter of the name and persona change, here's a passage from an interview the man himself gave a few years back to OndaRock:

I've seen and heard you asked many times why you released what's been called your most "sincere" record under a moniker, and it brought to mind a quote from Oscar Wilde: "A man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth". Is that your case too?

"Yeah, I mean, actually I didn't need a mask... it's a great quote, but for me it was much more pragmatic than that. Simply put, I released all those records under my real name, but if you took all their content and looked for what Josh Tillman actually put into them, you'd find zero - just an accurate emotional snapshot of the time. With music, with songwriting, with singing, it's not so much the lyrics but how you sing them; it's not whether what they're telling is truth or fiction, but how they speak. On 'Fear Fun' it's how the lyrics speak - they sound like me - and I think the most honest thing a writer can do is write the way they talk. If all those earlier records hadn't existed, this would have been the Josh Tillman album, but unfortunately they do exist. I wasn't afraid to reveal any of that stuff".

Sporting a thick beard and long hair, somewhere between John Lennon and Jim Morrison, Tillman went from being a shy, introverted singer-songwriter to unleashing a caustic polemical streak, with consequences to match: no shortage of less-than-flattering articles about him, and social media often mocking his remarks. Esteemed critic Greil Marcus voiced his doubts in a Pitchfork piece titled "What Do You Call Father John Misty?", while the less diplomatic Ryan Adams called him on Twitter "the most self-important asshole on earth". Luckily for us, beyond the controversial aspects of his public persona, what ultimately reveals Father John Misty on an artistic level is the beauty of his voice, freed from the heavy emotional weight of his earlier work. Without losing an ounce of intensity, his vocal performance reaches new heights. Backed by far fuller arrangements, the lyrics - as hinted at by the psychedelic album covers - become a canvas where society's ills and the world's woes (though sometimes it's simply enough to describe the ugly vices of Los Angeles) walk hand in hand with the demons of the soul. Tillman has never hidden his struggles with depression and anxiety, compounded by a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder. These issues - sometimes treated with alternative methods (like LSD) - have often had a negative impact on his relationship with the press and with audiences during certain shows, marred by less-than-lucid remarks between songs.

The one who seems to offer the American songwriter support and strength is his wife, Emma Elizabeth Tillman, whom he married in September 2013. Born in Santa Barbara, California, she graduated from UCLA and quickly specialized in photography and directing. She appears in some of Misty's videos, indulging the subject's endearing quirks (some of which are on display in the "I'm Writing A Novel" video), and she would go on to direct the video for "God's Favorite Customer". Their meeting is recounted in "I Went To The Store One Day".

The aftermath: the human comedy

⟦Q1⟧

(Josh Tillman)

The fact that a patient is able to self-diagnose their own ailment is certainly one of the first signs of recovery, especially when dealing with some kind of psychological block, or a generic mental issue. It would be interesting to know for certain whether the moment Tillman is talking about came before or after the phone call in which the drummer told Robin Pecknold he was leaving Fleet Foxes, but certainly the affectation this sensitive giant of a man talks about has always been palpable, no point denying it; perhaps a kind of contrition toward a "constrictive" asceticism of one's own spirit, also brought on by our man's reaction to the band's overflowing musical excess.

Praise, and a big sigh of relief, then, for this change of course called Fear Fun, which spares us yet another barrage of sighed, "exhaled" contractions, the spasms of a soul in a cage. Tillman marks this step not only with the much-discussed abandonment of the "fleet foxes" lineup, but also by transforming himself, in a carnivalesque and mocking fashion, into the fabulous bearded figure of the hippie priest named Father John Misty.

To mark his official entry into the world of the grown-ups (with a small "g", of course), the drumstick-wielding singer-songwriter enlisted two heavyweights, Phil Ek and, above all, Jonathan Wilson, his self-declared guardian spirit. Not so much for stylistic or sonic choices (traceable, if anything, in "This Is For Sally Hatchet"), but for the attitude: ritual exhumations, archaeological digs in the middle of Laurel Canyon, aimed at bringing the "classic" back to life, if such a definition even exists. Keeping a safe distance, naturally, from Pecknold's shadow (though doing a full-throated seventies revival without reckoning with him is by now almost impossible, see "Only Son Of The Ladiesman"), Tillman performs polished, airy compositions that range from the Springsteen-tinged folk-rock of the thunderous "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" to the amused, Phosphorescent-style alt-country of "I'm Writing A Novel" (and a collaboration with Houck has already been announced).

Worth noting too are the muted syncopations of the soul-inflected "Nancy From Now On", which Josh carries off with another spot-on performance (finally intense and never affected) into an offhandedly poignant winter postcard of love. "I never liked the name Joshua/ I got tired of J": now that his identity finally seems to have been found (and our man takes it upon himself to tell us so explicitly), the thread of inner monologue knotted to the outer one, what remains to be asked is whether Tillman has the songwriting talent to match the "promotional"-iconographic architecture that precedes and accompanies him, and the technical and artistic means of those assisting him. This is where the project creaks: never — or almost never, "Fun Times In Babylon" deserves an exception — do the songs on Fear Fun manage to scratch beneath the pleasant surface of the singer-songwriter's well-mannered harmonies and elegant, conventional arrangements, to aspire to something more than a pleasant, passing accompaniment.

Josh Tillman takes a break from the excesses of his alter ego Father John Misty and returns to the intimate, hushed atmospheres of his early work to score The History Of Caves, Emma Tillman's directorial debut. Ten very brief instrumental pieces, running just over 15 minutes in total, recorded at Jonathan Wilson's Five Star Studios — without the owner's direct involvement, but with Bryce Gonzales overseeing things — in which the now-Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter shows he has made great strides in his writing and composing skills. This time, Tillman's warm, powerful voice isn't there to fill the compositional gaps of his pre-FJM work; but it's an absence you don't feel: despite their extremely short length, the pieces are complex, structured and balanced, organically tied together by recurring themes.

This is not, however, an easy album to approach. On first impact, you sense its strong dependence on the images of the film it's tied to — or rather, untied from, especially in terms of the tracks' timing, which come across more as sketches, notes for future compositions, with great potential still to be developed. It's a feeling that gradually fades the more you listen, as you discover the layering and the unified compositional concept behind the soundtrack.

The stories of a dysfunctional family are accompanied by an emotional folk sound, as warm as it is dark, a direct descendant of the sound of Singing Ax, the last album released under the name J.Tillman, joined by a Fleet Foxes-like echo in the vocal blend chosen for the closing track, "Title Themes For Boy Voices" — this time it's the titles that get the benefit of the songwriter's less restrained creative streak, from "Finish Those Cigarettes And Go To Bed" to "Tender Is The Night In Paperback", which plays on F. Scott Fitzgerald.

After releasing the unreleased "Real Love Baby", Mr. Misty doesn't shy away from forays into the world of pop heavyweights. He's among the writers of "Hold Up" by Beyoncé (on the album "Lemonade") and of "Sinner Prayer" and "Come To Mama" on "Joanne" by Lady Gaga, not to mention his covers of Taylor Swift songs ("Blank Space"). He also appears in the video for "Freak" by Lana Del Rey. He will also contribute to the track "Myself" by Post Malone, included on the 2019 album "Hollywood's Bleeding".

For better or worse, Father John Misty's definitive sermon comes with his third album, Pure Comedy. It's the work in which he pours out everything of himself — his thoughts, his obsessions. The sound is classic, an orchestral piano-pop à la Elton John, and it doesn't shy away from sharp pop jabs such as "Total Entertainment Forever", where his soft spot for Taylor Swift resurfaces once again. But above all it indicts our enslavement to technology: “And now the future’s definition is so much higher than it was last year/ It’s like the images have all become real/ And someone’s living my life for me out in the mirror”. The Human Comedy is not a pretty show for Misty, and his pessimism reaches Leopardi-like peaks in the final line of the title track:

Just random matter suspended in the dark

I hate to say it, but each other's all we've got

The only hope of relief and victory lies in love. The Comedy is an intricate design — like the one on the cover — where Trump and social media coexist with fake news and false values. Alongside the idea of love each other comes the idea of building your own happy universe far away from everyone, rejecting the current state of things. It's a thought that dominates the record's two monster tracks: "Leaving LA" and "So I'm Growing Old On Magic Mountain". The first could be seen as the "maxi" version of J. Tillman's earliest compositions: repeated verses with no chorus, for thirteen minutes of voice, guitar and a string backdrop, in a long self-analysis both personal and about his role as a musician, born out of his criticism of the Californian city ("These L.A. phonies and their bullshit bands/ That sound like dollar signs and Amy Grant").

On the journey where he leaves the City Of Angels with his wife to head to New Orleans, we arrive at the final scene, an old childhood memory tied to music. Young Josh is about to choke in a shop because of a piece of candy, and "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac comes through the speakers. "So I'm Growing Old On Magic Mountain" — inspired by Thomas Mann's novel "The Magic Mountain" — at a "mere" ten minutes, is likewise yet another excellent vocal performance from Misty, reaching its peak with the splendid touch of a heavy, solemn synthesizer.

In the rest of the Comedy we find criticism of religion, the post-apocalyptic scenario brought on by climate change in "Things It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution", and "Smoochie", dedicated to his wife. It's a long, often long-winded work (a clear response to those who wanted him to be less self-indulgent), but one containing very personal and inspired moments.

A year after Pure Comedy, Josh Tillman returns with a new album under his now-celebrated alter ego Father John Misty: God's Favorite Customer. Well-recycled leftovers from his predecessor's long sessions, a way of riding the crest of the wave? Fortunately — as has by now become customary — the American musician has something much better up his sleeve. The key to reading God's Favorite Customer lies in the track — and its official video — that serves as lead single: "Mr. Tillman". "Mr. Tillman, are you ready?" can be heard before the clapperboard, foreshadowing the anguished and symbolic self-destruction sequence that follows. Symbolic, but above all autobiographical, as the choice of title makes clear: most of the songs were born out of a couple of months of self-imposed isolation, which Misty used to come to terms with his demons and obsessions.

Although the author has explicitly stated that, unlike I Love You, Honeybear and Pure Comedy, this is not a concept album, some of the themes born during his voluntary confinement recur throughout, creating a thematic backbone made of self-analysis and reflections on love, life and death. The choice of cover shot, with Father John Misty captured in close-up under neon lights, unlike the more artistic compositions of the past, confirms that the spotlight here is mainly on him, rather than on society and its attendant ills, as it was on "Pure Comedy".

"Mr. Tillman" is a fine pop song, instantly "whistleable", in which the Rockville musician once again confirms his rare talent for writing substantial lyrics. The song is narrated from the point of view of the concierge who deals daily with this troublesome guest and his bizarre habits: unpaid bills, passports left in the fridge, mattresses left out in the rain. Beneath these erratic behaviours you can hear the cracks forming: pleas not to drink alone, worried phone calls from loved ones, and a chorus in which he repeats — more to himself than to the listener he's addressing — that everything's fine, that this is the best solution.

Compared to Pure Comedy, the songs are shorter and lighter: there's no trace of the dense orchestral architecture that defined the previous record, and no songs with the extended runtimes of "Leaving LA" and "I Growing Old On That Magic Mountain". It's a "lighter" record, but that doesn't mean it's arranged superficially. Produced for the first time almost entirely by Tillman alone (with help from Jonathan Rado of Foxygen and guiding spirit Jonathan Wilson), the album has a clean, full-bodied sound in which every instrument can be appreciated: piano, organs, synths, lap steel, classical and electric guitars, all expertly blended to showcase Misty's usual impeccable vocal performance.

"Hangout At The Gallows" is a top-tier opener, explicit in laying bare the artist's personal situation and the production work mentioned above. Fortunately, that holds true for the whole record, made up of heartfelt, intense ballads like the splendid "Just Dumb Enough To Try" and "Plase Don't Die". If "Date Night" (very "True Affection" in its intro) and "Disappointing Diamonds Are The Rarest Of Them All" are important updates on the I Love You, Honeybear side of things, the heart of God's Favorite Customer is "The Palace". The inner/outer chronicle of this moment in Father John Misty's life:

Last night I wrote a poem

Man, I must have been in the poem zone

I'm in over my head

But I don’t wanna leave the palace

Let’s pay someone to move in and fix this

Last night I texted your iPhone

And said I think I'm ready to come home

I'm in over my head

It's curious how the hotel theme resurfaces shortly after the release of the much-discussed "Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino". Alex Turner described his album as "a retirement home for rock stars on the Moon"; for Tillman — despite the often symbolic lyrics and the ever-present dose of self-irony — it's a far more concrete place, a kind of urban limbo in which to reckon with himself and get out at any cost. At least with ten great songs.

Stripped of the cosmic pessimism of Pure Comedy, Father John Misty fights his inner demons with an inspired, intimate work of "healing" (his own words), one capable of moving others too. The hotel entrance seems to be behind him now.

In the midst of the Covid-19 emergency, Father John Misty released Off-Key In Hamburg on his own Bandcamp, with proceeds going to the Recording Academy's MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund, an organization working to address the damage the virus has caused to the music industry, to artists forced to cancel shows, and to related businesses like hotels and venues.

Off-Key In Hamburg is a special live record because Tillman captures the August 8, 2019 show at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, where he performed backed by the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt. A gorgeous theatrical venue, with the front rows just a breath away from the singer and the rest of the audience surrounding the artist as he delivers his songs on mic, guitar and piano. A live best of with room only for the music, the backing vocals and the applause between songs, with no spoken interludes. The ideal release both for those who want to dig deeper into the bearded singer-songwriter's musical world, and for those who already know him well enough to want to hear the live rendition of part of his catalogue on record (and, of course, to contribute to the cause).

As unimpeachable as the skill of the band that's been backing him on his recent tours and the richness of the orchestral arrangements that underline and expand on the orchestral touches previously committed to record may be, the thing that matters most to us remains untouched here: namely, Father John Misty's vocal performance. The horns and strings on "Pure Comedy" are gorgeous, the unreleased violin passage that colors the ever-compelling "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" is a real treat, as is the fine rendition of "I Went To The Store One Day" — but the instrument that always makes the difference is Misty's voice, even richer in nuance and inspiration, as shown by the sumptuous version of "Holy Shit", followed by the equally beloved "I Love You, Honeybear", performed triumphantly before a more than satisfied crowd.

The tracklist prioritizes the most recent records, Pure Comedy and God's Favorite Customer, interspersed with the most beloved (and most beautiful) tracks from his first two albums — with the exception of the magnificent, still utterly relevant "Bored In The Usa", left out here. Opened by "Hangout At The Gallows", the elegant show closes with the lengthy "Leaving LA", fading straight into the closing applause, rounding off a release that's good and right for these complicated times, in which a pleasant listen and a contribution to a worthy cause might offer at least a bit of relief.

A few months after the release of Off-Key In Hamburg come the four covers available only in digital format on Anthem +3, once again for charity, this time benefiting CARE Action & Ground Game LA. Standing out is the hushed, delicate tribute to Leonard Cohen, with the choice of the title track from the release coming from the 90s masterpiece "The Future", plus the closing gem "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong" from "Songs Of Leonard Cohen". This is the most interesting track on the release, elevated by a lovely horn arrangement and Mr. Misty's usual heartfelt performance, overseen as always by trusty Wilson.

Besides the two songs by the Canadian singer-songwriter, the other reworkings are "Trouble" by Cat Stevens and "Fallin' Rain" by Link Wray.

Another "mini" release is the single containing the unreleased tracks To S./ To R for the "Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 5" compilation. One can't help but wonder who the names behind the songs are. Musically we're in classic-Misty style territory (delicate acoustic atmosphere, with precise touches of piano and strings), while lyrically, on "To R.", he seems to be in dialogue with himself, still trapped in the hotel of his last album. The other side is just as heartfelt, finding him trying to reach out to someone going through a very difficult time.

The Next 20th Century

With Chloë and The Next 20th Century (2022), the orchestral dimension of Father John Misty takes over. Such arrangements have never been absent from the discography of the singer-songwriter from Rockville (unlike the intimate sparseness of the records released under his own name), and on several live occasions Misty has performed his compositions backed by an orchestra, as documented on Off-Key in Hamburg and as he is about to do again on his just-announced world tour. Tillman's artistic alter ego has always presented himself as a figure out of time and out of fashion, part psychedelic guru, part cult leader, with a touch of hippie style, his songwriting overseen by someone who knows a thing or two about the '70s and Laurel Canyon: Jonathan Wilson.

Another important aspect of the new record is Father John Misty's unprecedented emotional register: calm, detached in his storytelling but no less passionate for it. At least in the songs, the neuroses, the obsessions, and the many vices and few virtues of contemporary society he's so often narrated seem to fade into the distance. Although the aspects mentioned above are reinforced by some disorienting signals (the new look and the unprecedented monochrome artwork, at odds with the vivid compositions of the past), the points of continuity outweigh the points of rupture.

Chloë and The Next 20th Century stands in continuity with the arc of the American artist's career. This is confirmed by the presence of his faithful comrades-in-arms, from the aforementioned Wilson (the record, ready as early as the end of 2020, was recorded at his Five Star Studios) to Dave Cerminara behind the mixing console. The seeds of the orchestral tracks can be found in previous albums — the openers of I Love You, Honeybear and Pure Comedy, just to name two examples — but the trumpet that opens "Chloë" immediately immerses us in the dominant retro mood, just as clearly foreshadowed by the first single "Funny Girl". It's the soundtrack to a classic of old Hollywood, with Misty as our crooner, and arrangements capable of making sinuous string passages coexist with sharp electric guitar solos, as in the long closer "The Next 20th Century". The voice remains a guiding light, his usual sharp wordplay at times — though we're used to it by now — tending toward the wordy and the saccharine ("Kiss Me (I Loved You)"). In the splendid "Goodbye Mr. Blue" we can almost picture him sitting on a sun-drenched porch in full country style, while among his finest compositions we can include "Q4". "Chloë" isn't the main protagonist, but rather the figure tasked with kicking things off and paving the way for the other characters. Alongside the orchestral textures, what holds the record together is love, often tragic and painful: from "(Everything But) Her Love" to "We Could Be Strangers", by way of the sorrowful yet beautiful "Buddy's Rendezvous". It's no coincidence that the deluxe edition of the album includes the cover of the latter recorded by Lana Del Rey.

So, at the end of this passionate black-and-white film with its slightly grainy edges, Chloë and The Next 20th Century turns out to be nothing more than a new chapter in the Human Comedy that Father John Misty simply can't tear himself away from. To quote his beloved Leonard, new skin for the old ceremony.

What — or who — wants to leave Josh Tillman in the mahāśmaśāna (महाश्मशान), the Sanskrit word for the "great cremation ground"? According to his own words, his own ego, working toward its own erasure. And here another question arises: which self are we talking about — Josh Tillman or Father John Misty? Because, as in "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", the dividing line has never been clear-cut. Quite the opposite, in fact.

The result, however, is the opposite: Mahashmashana is the most "Father John Misty" record the American musician has ever made. Here, in eight songs, all the trademarks — for better or worse — of the Father are concentrated: excess (with three tracks running to considerable length), the usual — delicate — subjects dealt with/experienced in the songwriter's typical fashion, amid caustic irony, a blend of high and low culture, and a pronounced streak of autobiography. Telling, right from their titles, are "Josh Tillman And The Accidental Dose" and "Mental Health". This time around, the preacher turns a bit more guru, and continues the tradition of opening his records with a great song: this time it's the nearly ten-minute title track. The classical/orchestral arrangements remain in continuity (though less prominent than on its predecessor, the concept album "Chloë and the Next 20th Century") and are interrupted only by the lively "She Cleans Up". Alongside the aforementioned opener, the other track vying for the title of best song is "Screamland", a magical and evocative masterpiece that also features a contribution from a certain Alan Sparhawk. A shame about the already-heard (on the brilliantly titled best-of that preceded the album by a short while) ten minutes of "I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All", from "I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said to Crawl" — fun enough, perhaps, but pale in comparison to other epic tracks in his catalogue ("Leaving LA", "So I'm Growing Old on Magic Mountain").

And so, once "Summer's Gone" draws to a close (its final words being "But you eat a peach or you skin your knee / And time can't touch me"), Father John Misty leaves behind on the cremation ground a living work, whose only real threat, in the end, seems to be the passing of time itself.

Contributions by Guia Cortassa for the interview and "I Love You, Honeybear", Lorenzo Righetto ("Fear Fun"), Federico Piccioni ("Pure Comedy")

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