Father John Misty

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Father John Misty

Father John Misty

Before releasing seven (!) lo-fi folk albums as J. Tillman, and drumming for the Seattle band Fleet Foxes, Father John Misty was just Josh Tillman. But in 2012 he re-christened himself Father John Misty. Father John Misty is the musical project of Josh Tillman, not including the aforementioned solo work he did as J. Tillman. As soon as Josh adapted the Father John Misty moniker, boy, did the music escalate. All of a sudden- there was: high production, arrangements, strings, back-up singers! Father John Misty is what would happen if Frank Sinatra started an indie band. Sweet crooning over strings & indie-rock. Josh had released multiple indie-folk albums before, but something about adapting the Father John Misty character really upped his musical game and things began to change & quickly... with people taking notice. He has mentioned that his Father John Misty character is a satire on rock ‘n’ roll stars… but satire or not- you can’t deny good music. He also has mentioned that he chose John instead of Josh because he never liked the name Josh- I guess that explains why he released his earlier works under “J.” instead of Josh. He was just getting out of a stint from being behind the kit and drumming with the Fleet Foxs where he served as a bandmember from 2008 to 2012. It was a hell of a time to quit the band because Fleet Foxes were just coming off of their excellent sophomore release, 2011’s Helplessness Blues. He quickly departed and has stayed busy since. Father John Misty has released four albums: 2012’s Fear Fun, 2015’s (and personal favorite) I Love You, Honeybear, 2017’s Pure Comedy and 2018’s God’s Favorite Customer with this year’s [2020’s] live album Off-Key In Hamburg. Misty’s music is grandiose & so many things all at the same time: comedic yet sincere, big-arrangements mixed with acoustics, tender yet angry. This is first-person writing at its best. Listen to songs like “Bored in the USA” & “Chateau Lobby #4” & you will get an understanding of how varied but beautiful this music is. Father John Misty has released consistently good music & that trend doesn’t seem to be breaking anytime soon. Other than writing songs for Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Kid Cudi, & Post Malone, Father John Misty has also found himself in pop-culture, being mentioned and appearing in various shows, like Master of None, usually serving as a punchline to hipsters & the hipster culture. The music speaks for itself, there’s no need to get prissy…

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Father John Misty

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