Father John Misty (formerly Josh Tillman) is the darling of serious music critics and literary fans. His low-key release of new album "God's Favorite Customer" further proves this.
《God’s Favorite Customer》
In 2008, Josh Tillman joined the new band Fleet Foxes as a drummer. The band quickly became famous, but he left the group in the 2011 second-level "Helplessness Blues" tour and began his solo career as a "Father John Misty".
"Being a professional musician in a successful band is a prelude to the boring and painful part of life. However, it is easier to be successful than to be happy, and this is the inspiration I got from this experience."
includes "God’s Favorite Customer", and Father John Misty has released four full-length albums so far. The endless annoying self-indulgence, sharp social criticism and dark and thick background make him a "prophet" who is a fan of the new era.
He also has enough self-deprecating spirit. In "Pure Comedy", which has a good reputation last year, he described himself as "another white man who took himself too seriously in 2017."
He is a person who famously loves to speak freely on social media. Last year, he suddenly deleted his Twitter and Instagram, saying, "You must concentrate on making new albums." He also asked the interviewer of Rolling Stone: "If you regard social media as a social space, do you still want to enter it? Sometimes I log in to Twitter to make others hate me, which is a kind of self-harm."
, a character like this, is not easy to mess with. In the interview, he talks clearly and often makes reporters angry. Pitchfork still early on as one of the "37 most anticipated new albums" in 2018. Before the release of the new album, he himself compared it to the 2015 masterpiece "I Love You, Honeybear", but "removed the cynical part."
《I Love You, Honeybear》
《I Love You, Honeybear》》The most famous part of "I Love You, Honeybear" is that Tillman criticizes current problems and beats himself in the song, but contributes the most beautiful love words in the wasteland world - "Maybe love is just an economic product born from material shortage, but our fantasies are only about you and me" (Holy Shit). This album that helped him get into mainstream sight contributed a positive attitude: the world is so messy, but no matter what, at least we encountered it in the store parking lot on the mornings of buying coffee and cigarettes.
From then on, the problem will be solved. "Isn't true love a person who has to put me in one home?", and then "buy a botanical garden to let the plants in the garden grow wildly until you no longer have to block others outside." "Don't throw me in the hospital when you die, I will go home and hold up a big move, and let you fly to the sky when you have sex" ("I Went To The Store One Day").
Although this buddy was sarcastic in the song, from the American education issue to the subprime mortgage storm to drug addiction and privacy leaks... the love is full of love, and it turns into a gentle and pleasant melody.
Tillman As a patient with long-term depression, he self-treated by taking LSD without medical advice. Everyone understands and appreciates his self-indulgence, and this pathological awakening and sharpness can also be traced. Besides, his madness is limited, and the music does not sound crazy at all, but its sweet, smooth and dark content is very different.
Father John Misty's style is roughly folk / country rock . The instrumental music configuration is traditional, and it is good at using harmony and piano. The voice is like the one that gorgeous rock , bright and gentle, with a standard accent and clear mouth.
"Pure Comedy"
"Pure Comedy" was nominated for the best alternative album in Grammy , and finally only received the "Best Album Packaging Award". His attitude towards winning is "Fuck Society". This is true of the theme of "Pure Comedy". It is a universal exploration of the human state, which is so complex that it is dazzling.
When it comes to this album, Father John Misty seems to have lost the power to explore, locked himself in a hotel in New York for two months, and wrote an album about individuals.
is not much different from the previous work in terms of musicality. Whether it is ten instruments or a piano, the rippling feeling that can please everyone just right has not changed, and he even whistled.
He described love as if he hoped to describe it as something that was so strong that it was stenchy and boring that it was suppressed to death in his heart, like the perverted gaze on the bus, the corpse exposed to the scorching sun, and finally "love exploded in his body". "Disappointing diamonds are the rarest variety among diamonds, but eternal love is not a rare thing" ("Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All").
, but this time, there is no redemption. Fans who took his love with his wife Emma as a role model are going to be disappointed. Originally, this love and marriage were so inspiring. A person who described himself as "hiding his pants around his ankles after getting the revelation of Canadian shamans" could also find unconditional true love, but after getting the true love, he was defeated by "and then".
Josh Tillman
Personal pain and introspection are the charm of Tillman and his shackles. He might have realized this and began to try to see himself from a different perspective on this album. "Mr. Tillman" describes Mr. Tillman, who is imprisoned in the hotel in the tone of a hotel staff, or "Illman" more accurately. In "The Songwriter", he and Emma think from the perspective of others, "What would happen if you were the songwriter/Why love me is your unfinished masterpiece?"
It would be frightening to be too honest, but Tillman is so in nature. He clearly distinguished the difference between entertainment and art. "The former helps people forget life, while the latter teaches people to remember life. Remembering life requires stronger emotional investment."
He asked many questions and sighed in the last song "We’re Only People (And There’s Not Much Anyone Can Do About That)": "I think the ending may be just as the beginning. Why isn’t it me? Why isn’t you? Why isn’t it now?"
The anxiety that exists has a strong shadow on a person who is depressed and unwilling to quit drinking, so that he frequently survives the long night and ushers in the morning light, with the question of "Why are you alive?" (Hangout at the Gallows).
Because of this, music critics think this is his "most sincere and profound work." Yes, I have to sing bloody "I wade by/I'm about to bleed to death" to get sincere praise.
