Father John Misty is in better shape than ever
With Mahashmashana, perhaps his best album, Father John Misty achieves an ambition perfectly calibrated to his powerful authorship, suspended between present and past
2' min read
2' min read
It was "heartbreaking" when Joshua Michael Tillman discovered that his ambition far outweighed his talent. He was convinced that he would make it, that he would become a cartoonist. And instead, painful as it was, that realisation had been the first building block in the construction of Father John Misty's appeal. One of Tillman's first demos reached the ears of singer-songwriter Damien Jurado, who invited him to open some dates on his tour in 2003. Since then, the Maryland-based artist has released eight albums in seven years. Nine, counting the one with Fleet Foxes in 2011. After this experience, fed up with what he had done so far, Tillman moved to Los Angeles, chose the pseudonym Father John Misty and signed to the Sub Pop label. If 2012's new debut Fear Fun, as Simmy Richman writes, is the kind of album 'that can quote Sartre, Heidegger and Neil Young in the same song', 2015's I Love You, Honeybear is hailed by the press as a 'modern classic'. Then comes the dark and melodic Pure Comedy, the dark introspection of God's Favorite Customer and the baroque pop of Chloë and the Next 20th Century.
A precarious balance between intimism and ambition
It was Bruce Wagner's novel Memorial that enlightened Tillman while he was at work on the new album. More precisely, it was a Sanskrit word, "Mahāśmaśāna". The method is almost like therapy: write pages and pages, 'almost like an epic poem', and slowly select various parts that, combined, give life to other songs. Songs enlivened by inspired orchestral rock and perfect to act as a soundtrack to a world doomed to collapse. Father John Misty's sixth album is pervaded by a sense of grandeur, it is the meeting point between the elegant nostalgia of past sounds and the examination of the human condition of our present. Indeed, the title Mahashmashana can be translated as 'great cremation ground' and between the grooves of the vinyl are eight tracks for fifty minutes of music.
An author in splendid form
Whether talking about anxiety treated with acid or reminding us how hope is the last to die, Father John Misty always comes across as believable in the same way. The epic opening song is a gorgeous ballad of almost ten minutes, its poignant nature shot through with rays of light. She Cleans Up veers towards bewitching psychedelic rock, Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose is an introspection through smoky funky settings and theatrical string forays. The retro soul of Mental Health collides with the rapid scene changes of Screamland, the search for a connection that overcomes the widespread state of loneliness and alienation in Being You combines with the yacht rock of I Guess Time Makes Fools of Us All. The concluding Summer's Gone opens with a question, "What happens to desire once your love is consumed?" Answering it is not easy, falling in love with Mahashmashana is.
