Father John Misty
Fear Fun
(Sub Pop Records)
Josh Tillman has left Fleet Foxes and now he wants to party! On Fear Fun, his debut album under the new moniker Father John Misty (and his eighth solo album overall) Tillman ditches the folk seriousness of the Foxes and his prior solo work. On âFuntimes In Babylon,â he sings, âI would like to abuse my lungs/Smoke everything in sight with every girl Iâve ever loved/Look out Hollywood, here I come,â over a lush arrangement that recalls the Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb partnership mixed with a touch of the Countrypolitan sound of Patsy Cline and Owen Bradley.
âNancy From Now Onâ follows with another debauched come-on: âPour me another drink/And punch me in the face/You can call me Nancy.â The gorgeous falsetto chorus will go straight to the gooey heart of any 70’s AM Gold enthusiast, with echoes of pre-Saturday Night Fever Bee Gees, and Harry Nilssonâs classic âEverybodyâs Talkin’.â
Half of the tunes here are really stellar, full of adventurous musical choices, hooky choruses and Tillmanâs fine vocals and harmonies. âHollywood Forever Cemetery Singsâ is a stripped-down, enigmatic rocker, and âOnly Son of the Ladiesmanâ is a comic/tragic account of a Hollywood lothario and perhaps a look into Mistyâs own future, full of satisfying Tom Petty-ish strums and an aching melody delivered with gallows humor bravado a la Leonard Cohen. âIâm a steady hand/Iâm a Dodgers fan/Iâm a leading brand/Iâm a one night stand/Iâm a ladies man.â
There are also a few tunes on Fear Fun that feel tossed off, insubstantial. âIâm Writing A Novel,â and âWell, You Can Do It Without Meâ in particular, feel more like genre exercises than fully fleshed-out songs. âNow Iâm Learning to Love the Warâ is earnest, but pedantic.
On the album closer, âEveryman Needs A Companion,â Tillman relates the story of his transformation: âJoseph Campbell and the Rolling Stones/Couldnât give me a myth/So I had to write my own/I got hung up on religion/Though I know itâs a waste/I never liked the name Joshua/I got tired of âJâ.â
However he got here, the new identity Tillman created is clearly liberating for him and his writing. Letâs see if the good father will stick around for a second effort.
