Father John Misty - God's Favorite Customer
Even I will admit, I often will judge a book by its cover, so to say. When I saw the cover of Father John Misty's new album, God's Favorite Customer, I figured this was it for him. The alter ego of Josh Tillman finally swallowed him after the excess of Pure Comedy (2017), allowing his fall into overindulgence to replace the detailed artwork of his past albums with just a stylized picture of his face. Thankfully, it was the opposite. Actually, God's Favorite Customer is a bit of a respite from Pure Comedy, filling its near 40 minutes with exactly what we have come to expect from FJM - a beautiful set of ballad-ish songs that expertly explore numerous personal and societal issues in a creative and frequently unique way. In short, the man's music is still worth loving.
Because of my initial judgments, I was very shocked by how good the opening track "Hangout at the Gallows" was. The song builds nicely, beginning with laidback grooves accompanied by increasingly tense but glistening gorgeous background vocals. A great follow up is the (slightly) more upbeat “Mr. Tillman,” which bobs along with the usual effortless air of his other works; it’s fitting for a single as one of the most buoyant songs in the album despite its bizarre lyrics. Both the tracks have the usual added layer of depth, just short of wallowing in self-parody and despair (even touching on potentially suicidal thoughts, in the first as well as the song “Please Don’t Die”). As per the FJM norm, his standard lyrical topics are masked with cleverly poetic phrases, which he manages to make unique yet in his distinctive style. For fans of the great love songs of I Love You, Honeybear (2015), check out “Disappointing Diamonds are the Rarest of Them All” which likens his truly special love to the imperfect rather than the god-like standard of traditional love songs.
With each Tillman release, his voice and words have become more and more at the forefront of his persona. It sounds egotistical to the non-fans, but it’s probably the thing his fans love most about his songs. He just has a way with melody, where even his most bland arrangements have wonderfully pleasant tunes. Tillman is obviously very talented, playing many of the instruments on his albums as well. Some forget that under the moniker J. Tillman he has released twice as many albums as Father John, and his experience shows more and more with each album. While he stretched his songwriting prowess to the more ambitious on the last album, God’s Favorite Customer reigns in his aspirations and condenses his skills very effectively. It may be more of the same for him, but his fans will definitely not be complaining.
Another thing I love about Father John Misty albums is that every song has something interesting and memorable about it. Sure, there are “single”-like songs (could the lilting “Just Dumb Enough to Try” have been released as a single by anyone but him?), but if you put his songs on random you’d be hard-pressed to find one that’s genuinely bad. By his fourth record, he has built such a strong individual personality that he’s not worried about recreating his earlier work that began his ascent to popularity. Whatever the method of songwriting he follows, he has gladly stuck with it on all the FJM albums, only allowing his own songs to be recorded. This holds true in two ways - that he literally writes his songs, and that he has not allowed fame to influence his songwriting choices. God’s Favorite Customer shows that he wants to double down on this fact, and, hopefully, that he will do exactly what he wants to do on all subsequent releases.
Because of my initial judgments, I was very shocked by how good the opening track "Hangout at the Gallows" was. The song builds nicely, beginning with laidback grooves accompanied by increasingly tense but glistening gorgeous background vocals. A great follow up is the (slightly) more upbeat “Mr. Tillman,” which bobs along with the usual effortless air of his other works; it’s fitting for a single as one of the most buoyant songs in the album despite its bizarre lyrics. Both the tracks have the usual added layer of depth, just short of wallowing in self-parody and despair (even touching on potentially suicidal thoughts, in the first as well as the song “Please Don’t Die”). As per the FJM norm, his standard lyrical topics are masked with cleverly poetic phrases, which he manages to make unique yet in his distinctive style. For fans of the great love songs of I Love You, Honeybear (2015), check out “Disappointing Diamonds are the Rarest of Them All” which likens his truly special love to the imperfect rather than the god-like standard of traditional love songs.
With each Tillman release, his voice and words have become more and more at the forefront of his persona. It sounds egotistical to the non-fans, but it’s probably the thing his fans love most about his songs. He just has a way with melody, where even his most bland arrangements have wonderfully pleasant tunes. Tillman is obviously very talented, playing many of the instruments on his albums as well. Some forget that under the moniker J. Tillman he has released twice as many albums as Father John, and his experience shows more and more with each album. While he stretched his songwriting prowess to the more ambitious on the last album, God’s Favorite Customer reigns in his aspirations and condenses his skills very effectively. It may be more of the same for him, but his fans will definitely not be complaining.
Another thing I love about Father John Misty albums is that every song has something interesting and memorable about it. Sure, there are “single”-like songs (could the lilting “Just Dumb Enough to Try” have been released as a single by anyone but him?), but if you put his songs on random you’d be hard-pressed to find one that’s genuinely bad. By his fourth record, he has built such a strong individual personality that he’s not worried about recreating his earlier work that began his ascent to popularity. Whatever the method of songwriting he follows, he has gladly stuck with it on all the FJM albums, only allowing his own songs to be recorded. This holds true in two ways - that he literally writes his songs, and that he has not allowed fame to influence his songwriting choices. God’s Favorite Customer shows that he wants to double down on this fact, and, hopefully, that he will do exactly what he wants to do on all subsequent releases.
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