A Song For Friday: Father John Misty

An epic return to form for the former (and future?) Josh Tillman

When Father John Misty released I Guess Time Just Makes Fools Of Us All in July, I raced to get it on my podcast, thinking it was merely a marvelous calling card for his first compilation, Greatish Hits: I Followed My Dreams And My Dreams Said To Crawl. But it wasn’t long before he announced his sixth album proper, Mahashmashana, which came out today after stoking much anticipation via listening parties on every platform you can think of.

As soon as I experienced the first of those, I knew the man was back. Not that he ever went fully away, it’s just that his last two albums, 2018’s God’s Favorite Customer and 2022’s Chloe And The Next 20th Century, both had enough I didn’t vibe with that kept them off of my Top 20 or 25. That was after his unstoppable three-album run: Fear Fun (2012), I Love You, Honeybear (2015), and Pure Comedy (2017), so one could understand why I was worried a more complete parting of the ways was on the horizon.

While sticking with a similar string-laden sound world as Chloe, Mahashmashana is unweighted by any concept, free to soar on the eight extraordinary songs Misty has assembled. The strings are again arranged by the great Drew Erickson, who also co-produced. Misty’s constant collaborator, Jonathan Wilson, is also here, snagging an Executive Producer credit. For this piece, let’s focus on Josh Tillman And The Accidental Dose, which follows The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apt. (2015) and Mr. Tillman (2017) as a song confronting his alter ego (former ego? not completely sure).

Starting with a sly piano intro and a spare first verse detailing an encounter that seems grounded in reality (“She put on Astral Weeks/Said "I love Jazz", and winked at me”), the song is increasingly infiltrated by jabbing strings and a growing sense of unease. By the final verse, he’s eating ice cream in the street, having just realized “that I lost my mind.” The song seems to reveal Father John Misty as a refuge for the “real” Josh Tillman, a persona that insulates him from the trauma and harm (“Around this time, I publicly/
Was treating acid with anxiety”) he might be experiencing or even causing himself. Give a listen and let this hall of mirrors confound, intrigue, and entertain you.

While the chorus notes, “You'rе in no shape/In no shape/All the king’s horses, all the king’s men/You may never be whole again” it occurs to me that by creating this work of art, Tillman and Misty are rejoined, whole again. Considering that the title of the album is an adaptation of the Sanskrit word “Mahāśmaśāna (महाश्मशान),” meaning “great cremation ground,” and symbolizing liberation and spiritual transformation, some have speculated that Tillman may be discarding the Misty persona - but who knows? It could even be vice versa. As long as he keeps making albums this fantastic, he can put them out under any name he chooses.

Listen to most of the songs for Friday here or below.

Also Out Today

Kendrick Lamar - GNX No one saw this sixth album coming (except maybe Father John Misty, whose releases are often connected to Lamar’s), a stripped-down 12-track collection that finds the world-beating rapper at the top of his came. Where his last album seemed barely able to stand under its weight (hm, hints of Misty’s Chloe?), this one rips from start to finish. One song that stops me in my tracks is reincarnated, which has Lamar at his most incendiary, musically and lyrically exploring his place in the continuum of great black artists like 2Pac and John Lee Hooker. Extraordinary stuff.

Warhaus - Karaoke Moon Belgian bad-boy crooner Maarten Devoldere (also in the band Balthazar) delivers a fourth album of witty rock’n’cabaret which finds him more comfortable in his own skin, seemingly fully recovered from the breakup that fueled 2022’s Ha Ha Heartbreak. As always with Devoldere, there is much to unpack and I am heartily looking forward to the journey.

Various Artists - TRA​И​Ƨ​A This sprawling collection from the Red Hot Org spotlights “the gifts of many of the most daring, imaginative trans and non-binary artists working today” via 46 songs featuring over 100 artists, many in first-time collaborations. While some of it (Jeff Tweedy/Claire Rousay, Cassandra Jenkins/Bloomsday/Babehoven, and Moor Mother/JLin, to name two highlights) works better than others (I did not need to hear Moses Sumney and Sam Smith doing all that to Sylvester’s Mighty Real), everything comes from the heart and each listener will find themselves in here somewhere.

From the archives:
Dylan-Lamar-Misty: An American Tragedy

Note: the graphic above is based on a photo by Bradley J. Calder.