Father John Misty – Pure Comedy (2017)
Why would an accomplished, yet not too affluent musician jump through the hoops of founding their own record label and make the expense to release their album on vinyl in this day and age?
Well, maybe this move coincides with the human need to cling to every last bit of physical media in this raging postmodern dumpster fire that is ‘the present,’ because it resembles something minisculely closer to a reality? Maybe the auteur’s psyche inhabits the intersecting sweet spot in a Venn diagram of utter self-doubt and total self-admiration that only allows for temporary release when inscribing their ego onto a solid surface? Maybe we are just witnessing an elaborate sales strategy to quench the thirst of a market populated by collector assholes?
Move down the list and you’ll find: check – check – check!
With the debut of Pure Comedy (2017), Joshua Tillman hits his listeners with the fervor of an inverted Nietzsche, who just happened to learn to compose like Elton John for some deranged reason. Tillman aka Father John Misty inspects the absolute lack of certainty or community in tracks like ‘Total Entertainment Forever‘, which picture a world of simulacra and Taylor Swift simulations:
“Bedding Taylor Swift / Every night inside the Oculus Rift / After mister and the missus finish dinner and the dishes / And now the future’s definition is so much higher than it was last year / It’s like the images have all become real / Someone’s living my life for me out in the mirror
No, can you believe how far we’ve come / In the New Age? / Freedom to have what you want / In the New Age we’ll all be entertained / Rich or poor, the channels are all the same”
In fact, the album is a sarcastic celebration of the loss of everything believed to be once tangible. This digression from the Modern and the Human is in no way just attributed to technology, however. Tillman struggles with the absence of any social movement or theory that could remedy his paranoia of a never arriving future:
“Life as just narrative, metadata in aggregate / Where the enigma of humanity’s wrapped up finally / That as they say is that
Oh, that day can’t come soon enough / It’ll be so glorious / When they finally find out what’s bugging us”
This excerpt from ‘Birdie‘ might be the most aloof section of the album, although the academic slang straight from the ivory tower doesn’t seem detached at all. If anything, the libretto comes off as an extension of the fears colorized through Birdie – namely, a discourse about the soon to come rules of a new era, that only a chosen few happen to have been invited to… and none of them are us.
These themes are an integral part, but also the foreplay of another dimension of Pure Comedy. Just as much as Joshua Tillman’s psychology reflects the crises of our world, the world of the album reflects the self-imposed position Tillman now holds in the culture industry. It is time for ‘Leaving LA‘:
“And I’m merely a minor fascination to / Manic virginal lust and college dudes / I’m beginning to begin to see the end / Of how it all goes down between me and them / Some 10-verse chorus-less diatribe / Plays as they all jump ship, ‘I used to like this guy / This new shit really kinda makes me wanna die’”
If anyone was looking out for an indie pop sensation, overflowing with self-referentiality, performed by a songwriter who is trapped in his own solipsistic indulgence and probably needs a call right now to check whether he is okay, with a tad of smartassery, you’re in for a treat!
by Jonas Nerke
Father John Misty has created what he thinks is this outrageous and provocative persona but it feels like a sham. I would add Pure Comedy (and I Love You, Honeybear) to the Hall of Shame because Josh Tillman’s pretentiousness is so over-the-top it’s ridiculous. (Several musicians I’ve met throughout the years that knew him complained about how egotistical he is.)
Loved your page.
Father John Misty has his very brilliant moments, and I love the title track of this album. Loved your review, especially the part about the inverted and deranged Nietzsche, and Birdie. I have to revisit it closely, because your words are intriguing: “a discourse about the soon to come rules of a new era, that only a chosen few happen to be invited to… and none of them are us” paired with the sentiment of the loneliness in that ivory tower, that’s plain genius (from both, you and the artist)
Need to give this album another listen. You really bring out some interesting aspects of the the music found here. Mostly because I’m always up for a tad of smartassary. Great article/review.
Pure Comedy was THE record of the year in 2017. What an amazing milestone! Superb review and I never saw that rant, thanks!
Great review of the misty father, he’s self-reflection in perfection. A great thinker with a very keen eye for observation. Amazing record!