Today I figured I’d revisit the record that turned me from someone who had a negative preconceived notion of the artist performing under the name Father John Misty, and turned me into someone that appreciated their music.
If anyone remembers what the online vinyl community was like 3+ years ago (especially Reddit’s r/vinyl), I think many would have shared frustration over the irritating regularity of low-effort, low quality posts. This was before the 300 character rule was instituted for photo/link posts, and the sub was a mess of photos without anything more than a title. We like to complain today about redundant photos of “hauls” laid out on the carpet/bed – but that is a step up from where things were just a few years ago. There was also, between 2015 and 2016, a HUGE influx of posts about this bearded guy “FJM” (or Father John Misty, as I’d later learn what the acronym meant). And when that damn “Honeybee” heart-shaped record dropped for RSD, there was a tsunami of everyone and their mother posting pictures of it. I hated it. A lot of folks on hated it; I certainly never felt alone in that regard. It became a meme-like joke for some, and a hill to die on for others defending it. I was not part of the defenders. I was sick of seeing the same posts over and over, and I was sick of the hipster trash music, which I assumed is what “Mr. Misty”(?) made, everyone was posting about.
Well, it turns out, that when you assume…you can kind of make an ass out of yourself. It took me a long while to move from a hater to appreciate the music. It also took me a while to understand that this guy’s name was not ‘John Misty’ and that he was not a man of God, which the ‘Father’ would suggest. Turns out his name is Joshua Tillman; a much more normal sounding thing to call a person. That helped ease my ire, but it wasn’t until a performance on SNL that I came around. I remember almost wanting to change the channel for the performance and just come back when it was done for Weekend Update, but the remote was either too far away (I’m lazy) or had perhaps indulged a bit too much in a beverage of choice (I had recently discovered the joy of NEIPAs). Once the music started, I was intrigued. I’m a sucker for a good horn section, intricate lyrics with a hint of comedy, and a lead-man playing an acoustic guitar – I am, after all, one of the vinyl community’s biggest DMB nerd fan. The first song FJM played was “Total Entertainment Forever”, a song that discusses the way we distract ourselves from the real world and bury ourselves into entertainment; something that will be enhanced by virtual reality in Tillman’s scene of a dystopian future. I was instantly hooked. I loved that song, and started looking up his other music, and discovered that the tune I had just heard would be on his upcoming album ‘Pure Comedy’:
I ended up pre-ordering the deluxe edition after seeing a video unboxing the contents enclosed, and an impressive looking molten-lava effect on the color pressings. I was, however, a bit wary that the pressings were actually just picture discs to give off that molten look. Many shared that concern, and there was a decent amount of debate on how it would be pulled off. Luckily, though, the effect was pulled off by pressing the album on translucent colored vinyl with splatter pellets added to provide the contrast. You can see this clearly if you hold one of the discs up to a light. I went into the album mostly blind – having only heard 3 songs from the artist in total: “Total Entertainment Forever”, “Pure Comedy”, and a track from his previous album called “Chateau Lobby #4”. Some of my first takeaways were how good the album sounded; not talking about the songs, but the sound quality itself. Upon closer inspection of the matrix information, I saw the initials “CB” etched into the deadwax – indicating that mastering engineer Chris Bellman had cut the lacquer. This was a huge deal to me, but a fact which got relatively little attention by the larger vinyl world. Bellman is one of the best in the game, and his involvement had me pretty excited. I still am not sure if he had any involvement in mastering, or if the album was even mastered specifically for vinyl at all or not, but the sound quality is full and rich. If I had to guess, I’d imagine the album was cut from hi-res digital files and did get a dedicated vinyl master, or at least that’s what my ears tell me. As far as the songs on the album go, they are superb. Tillman is a damn good lyricist, if not a bit of an asshole with his words. One line that sticks out to me as both humorous and biting is the following from ‘The Memo’:
“And as the world is getting smaller, small things take up all your time. Narcissus would have had a field day if he could have got online. And friends it’s not self-love that kills you, it’s when those who hate you are allowed to sell you that you’re a glorious shit the entire world revolves around”.
That line is the folk-rock equivalent of rap’s “spitting hot fire”! My standout songs are the title track, “Ballad of the Dying Man”, and that first one that drew me in; “Total Entertainment Forever”.
The album is strong from front to back, and works as a cohesive concept album that border on “double album” status. And maybe FJM is still hipster trash music; it just might happen to be the best of the best hipster trash there is – and I like it! This album still gets a ton of spin from me, and I still go through the package contents frequently. This release fits the deluxe name in every way, between the beautiful wax, the 4 jacket inserts, and the hard-plastic outer sleeve. Here’s a photo album detailing all that came included, plus the bonus 7″ of “Real Love Baby”.
I’ve become a bit of a fan of Tillman’s work since discovering this album, and now have a fairly complete studio discography – including his work with the Fleet Foxes and all of his Father John Misty releases. I even got a chance to see him live last summer, and he put on a great show! I’d highly recommend checking his music out if you aren’t familiar. Maybe you’ll hate it. But you might not. And one of the best parts of consuming music is having your opinions changed, your horizons opened, and your ears pleased! So give it a shot!
As a parting note, I’ll also HIGHLY recommend his cover of Arcade Fire’s ‘The Suburbs’; it’s excellent! I hope this was an enjoyable enough read! Let me know what you think in the comments, or if you have any suggestions/requests for future reviews!
The Vinyl Farm 
