Monday 28 May 2018




Father John Misty – God’s Favourite Costumer

by Raquel Pinheiro

Father John Misty’s fourth album, God’s Favourite Costumer sees Josh Tillman carefully crafting ten songs full of self-deprecation, wit, madness, addiction with a nod to religious themes.

The former Fleet Foxes drummer captures his struggles with mental illness drugs and alcool, highlited in Mr. Tillman “And oh, just a reminder about our policy/Don’t leave your mattress in the rain if you sleep on the balcony… Mr. Tillman for the seventh time we have no knowledge of a film that is being shot/outside Those aren't extras in a movie, they're our clientele/No, they aren’t running lines and they aren’t exactly thrilled/Would you like a regalo on the patio?/ Is there someone we can call? Perhaps you shouldn’t drink alone?”in God’s Favourite Customer: “Another night on the straight/All bug-eyed and babbling/Out on the corner of 7th and A/“I’m in the business of living”/Yeah, that’s something I’d say/All I need is a new friend/I’m only five blocks away…” and also in The Palace “It’s only been three weeks and a bag of speed from Jamie the PhD/She comes by the front desk to leave my transcript with her edits”

There is also space for a broken heart to pour out its hurt as in Just Dumb Enough To Try and Please Don’t Die. God’s Favourite Costumer has a fuller, but less intricate sound than I Love You Honeybear (2015), is more grandiose than Pure Comedy (2017), the songs’ orchestration and arrangements resembling, those of Fear Fun (2012). Father John Misty, the larger than life, excessive, womanizer, always on the verge of breaking, with death and grandeur looming close character invented by Tillman shines through the small stories told in God’s Favourite Costumer (no doubt Misty, if not the best costumer of The Almighty, is certainly one of the best. One has to wonder how, after four tales of his life the man is still alive.) and merges itself with Tillman’s real persona.

Personally, God’s Favourite Costumer ranks up there with Fear Fun, making it a favourite.

God’s Favourite Costumer is released June 1. Father John Misty is currently touring Europe:
         May: 28-30: Vicar Street, Dublin (ie)
         June: 01: Primavera Sound, Barcelona (sp)
                   02: This is Not A Love Song Festival, Nimes (fr)
                   03: We Love Green Festival, Paris (fr)
                   05: Palladium, Warsaw (pl)
                   07: Primavera Sound Festival, Porto (pt)
                   08: NorthSide Festival, Aarhus (dk)
                  10: Best Kept Secret Festival, Hilvarenbeek (nl)
                  12: Sentrum Scene, Oslo (no)
                  14: Bergenfest, Bergen (no)
       
 (Bella Union/PIAS – UK/Europe; Sup Pop- rest of the world)



No comments:

Post a Comment