I don't know what first drew me to Father John Misty, because his brand of country-tinged US pop is something I'm usually quite resistant to. I suspect I heard a couple of songs on 6Music, and a couple of people whose opinion I respect spoke highly, so an HMV sale prompted me to investigate.
On a visit to New York last year, daughter got us tickets for Stephen Colbert's The Late Show, and I was delighter to see Misty as the musical guest. He was just ace!
The title track is a grand statement of intent, a giant of a song which on some listens feels like a genuine classic, yet on occasion feels a little over the top. Chateau Lobby #4 continues the country-rock feel, enhanced by some lovely mariachi trumpets, which sound far better than the bland string accompaniment. There's a dance beat to True Affection, a treatment which livens up an otherwise ordinary song, then the lovely The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment - Josh Tillman being Misty's daytime name - and anyone who can have a musical rant about misuse of the word 'literally' is a good guy in my eyes. It's an upbeat little song, with fantastic lyrical complexity, while When You're Smiling And Astride Me slows the mood right down, without really convincing. But Nothing Good ever Happens In The Goddam Thirsty Crow, is a much grander statement, which grows with every listen. Strange Encounter just slips by without making any massive impression, but The Ideal Husband wakes the listener up, a much more lively song, welcome after the low key songs preceding it, and it sounds great! As does, Bored In The USA, which works better at the start with just Misty and the piano, some understated strings adding little at the end. It's still a powerful and lovely song. Holy Shit is to me, less successful, a powerful, heartfelt delivery, but I'm still finding the strings unnecessary at times. There's only two ways to properly end an album - up or down, and unsurprisingly, Misty goes down, with I Went To The Store One Day, a musically minimal, lyrically layered and really moving song.
This is an intensely personal, and lyrically complex album, on which not everything is easy to like, but it's definitely hard to ignore. I'm still scratching my head a bit, and tempted to conclude that I like Father John Misty more than I like his music, which is, at times, the sort of Americana that I struggle with, but the rawness and honesty set it apart. It's definitely one I need to be in the right mood for.
3* - I can't help feeling that there's more to Father John Misty than I'm getting and that repeated listening will help that penny drop.
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