Pure Comedy
by Father John Misty

From HoldenM TOP 100 COMMENTER 04/13/2017 10:17 | #189195 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Downvote this to hell, for all I care. This album is not that good. Tillman's a fine enough songwriter, but Jesus, is his salty navel-gazing irritating. Maybe if you're not surrounded by this brand of cynical pseudo-insight all the time, it's cool. Otherwise, I can't get into it. Maybe I'll try again later.

Father John Misty’s “Pure Comedy” serves as a reminder of the artist’s unique voice in the field of modern folk rock. He delivers a blend of humor and retrospective sadness into a package that demonstrates how he—and at least, I—view the world in its present state. Clever songwriting with an impassioned message, melded with prime production and instrumentation, creates a project which has grown on me with each subsequent listen.
Josh Tilman, Misty’s “man behind the mask”, has no qualms with questioning and criticizing the problems of society, through his fictionalized perspective of a man wandering through a barren city proceeding the collapse of humanity, to his blunt summarization of the whole of humanity in the titular track. One of my favorite tracks from the album, “When the God of Love Returns There’ll Be Hell to Pay”, Tilman assumes the role of a defender of mankind’s mistakes and flaws to a metaphorical “God of Love”.
The instrumentation of the album is strong throughout, with the exception of a few tracks. In what will likely be the most divisive track on the record, “Leaving LA” is a sprawling, thirteen minute self-reflection by Tilman, reviewing his grievances with the music industry, his pseudonym and himself. While the track has plenty to chew on, narratively speaking, it lacks a sense of progression or complexity in its sound, which Tilman addresses in the lyrics of the actual song, aware that the extensity of the tracks runtime, paired with a lack of resolve, may lose him a number of fans. The only other track I find personal flaws with would be “Smoochie”, which has a tasteful Southern twang and an enjoyable performance by Tilman, but lacks the same snappy lyricism that permeates the rest of “Pure Comedy”.
The track “Total Entertainment Forever” is a stark observation of the presence of media in our lives with a backing band reminiscent of Billy Joel. “Ballad of the Dying Man” is the perfect summarization of those who dedicate their lives to plaguing internet message boards with negativity or unnecessary “white knighting”. “Two Wildly Different Perspectives” and “Birdie” utilize a more technological soundscape, differentiating the tracks from the rest of the album’s folk rock vibes. The former addresses opposing views (political, social or otherwise) which may be perceived as highly contrasted, but hold similar values at their core. The latter holds a strong political message while providing an excellent crescendo, musically, which is a welcome commonality of the album. “The Memo”—a track which required a number of listens for myself to appreciate—contemplates perception and advertisers, and an audience which may believe to understand an artist or their work, but in truth, knows nothing. “So I’m Growing Old on Magic Mountain” and “In Twenty Years or So” finally address death and the future, where Tilman expresses the importance of acceptance in the way things are, and stresses that we enjoy life as it happens, no matter the outcome. Both of these final tracks contain gorgeous orchestral movements atop the soothing croons of the masked Misty.
Tilman’s personality is very much a part of his music. Should you disagree with his views, or what may occasionally come across as patronizing, there is plenty to enjoy sonically. Personally, I adored the album, and will likely rank it as one of, if not my favorite, albums of the year. 9/10

Father John Misty's new album is not much different from his last few projects. He has some interesting ideas, but he repeats them a few times. I also think the album is a bit long.

From Brad1770 TOP 100 COMMENTER 09/04/2017 06:35 | #197222 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

Have listened to the album end to end 4 times & can report
(1) It's waaaaaaay too long clocking in at a whooping 74 minutes
(2) Tracks 1,2 , 3 and ( if you make it that far) 13 are great, everything in between is a slog
(3) Tracks 4-12 sound very similar & pretty much mash into what feels like one looooong song
(4) This is not Album of the year , it pains me to say this as I really like FJM
Footnote for full disclosure: as a general rule I'm not a fan of long albums , 39 to 50 mins sees me out on most occasions

I don't want to be mean, but if you call the writing on this album bad you might need your head checked. Political commentary hasn't been this good since TPAB.

It's funny, cutting, self-aware, and postmodern. What more could you want from FJM?

Pretentious seems like a based criticism, but he's always self-aware, negating that argument.

Smoochie and Two Wildly Different Perspectives don't belong here, but the rest is a high water mark in 2010's folk ambition and execution.

This'll be a stone-cold classic in about 15 years.