Photo: Guy Lowndes
Father John Misty’s ‘Pure Comedy’ is philosophically dense and poignantly intellectual. Its lyrics are complex and intricate, detailing dystopian predictions for modern man’s moral devolution. It is also dark and humourless.
The instrumentals are understudies in this cynical commentary on life, politics and love. Despite being drenched in conviction, the poetic ‘Pure Comedy’ feels more like a spoken word project than a musical statement. Here is a songwriter trying to politicise his art somewhat unsuccessfully. The vocal melodies all too frequently jar with lengthy sentences.
Aside from releasing a clutch of wry, hook-heavy albums as Father John Misty, Josh Tillman has written for Lady Gaga and Beyonce. He was also formerly the drummer in Fleet Foxes.
His songwriting talents are well documented, which is why ‘Pure Comedy’ comes as such a disappointment. Too many ideas and a wealth of sentiments jostle for attention and the album’s mission statement feels lost and confused. The artist’s depression and anxiety are well charted. Self-medicating with LSD, there is a disenchanted and hopeless undertone that runs throughout.
Listening to each track is something to be endured and not enjoyed. He can be a visionary, his music carrying a unique aesthetic and technical brilliance, but lyrics such as “This new shit really kinda makes me wanna die” and “I'm beginning to begin to see the end” on Leaving LA typify the content here.
Those die hard Father John Misty fans will perhaps find the negativity and relentless melancholy of this album inspiring and affirming. However, the romantic interludes and metaphorical sentiments that peppered his previous work, appearing like a rainbow in a hail storm, have all but gone. Their absence resonates with a painful bleakness. “I’ve got the world by the balls, am I supposed to behave?” he goads on A Bigger Paper Bag.
He discusses his resentment of life’s chore-like design, his disdain for conformity, social codes and the everyday expectations of those he is surrounded with. Any suggestions of optimism, progress or hope are vacant. The beauty of the musical arrangements on albums past has gone. Washed out and colourless, ‘Pure Comedy’ tries so hard to pull away from the cynical hipster image that it comes full circle and presses those buttons harder than ever before.
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