Last night, Father John Misty, aka ex-Fleet Foxes member Josh Tillman, played a brand new song titled “Bored in the USA” with a 22-piece string section on Late Show With David Letterman. Turns out it’s off his follow-up to 2012’s excellent Fear Fun. The new album, titled I Love You, Honeybear, drops February 10 via Sub Pop and the 11-song tracklist includes expectedly great titles such as “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)” and “The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apt.”, so you know it’s going to be good.
All CDs and LPs come with a fold-out poster that includes photos by his wife, Emma Tillman, and extensive “Exercises for Listening” written by himself. If you’re quick, you can get one of the CD and LP pre-orders that comes with eight demos on cassette before they sell out. He’s taken the time to write a letter explaining the album’s concept, too, which nods to Alejandro Jodorowsky, Scott Walker, and his newfound affinity for the word “blammo”. Read it in full below.
Father John Misty will be hitting the road to tour with a seven-piece band at the beginning of next year. Support comes from Guy Blakeslee, Luluc, and King Tuff, the latter of which opens his Boston date at the Paradise Rock Club on March 31. Don’t miss tickets when they go on sale. Last time he was here, he almost sold out the House of Blues. See the full list of dates after the note.
Tillman’s concept letter:
“I Love You, Honeybear was recorded all through 2013 to 2014 in Los Angeles with producer Jonathan Wilson, who I also recorded and produced 2012’s Fairly Fun with. There’s a case to be made that it sounds and acts a bit like solo-era John Lennon, Scott Walker, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, and Dory Previn, while taking more than a few cues from Woody Allen, Kurt Vonnegut, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Muhammad Ali. It has a decidedly more soulful presence than Fear Fun, due in no small part to the fact that I am truly singing my ass off all over this motherfucker. The album is really characterized by the scope and ambition of the arrangements. Nearly every tune is augmented by something special, be it orchestral strings, a mariachi band, questionable electronic drum solos, ragtime jazz combos, soul singers, or what have you. I’m pretty sure there’s a sitar in there somewhere. Blammo.
“I Love You, Honeybear is a concept album about a guy named Josh Tillman who spends quite a bit of time banging his head against walls, cultivating weak ties with strangers and generally avoiding intimacy at all costs. This all serves to fuel a version of himself that his self-loathing narcissism can deal with. We see him engaging in all manner of regrettable behavior.
“In a parking lot somewhere he meets Emma, who inspires in him a vision of a life wherein being truly seen is not synonymous with shame, but possibly true liberation and sublime, unfettered creativity. These ambitions are initially thwarted as jealousy, self-destruction and other charming human character traits emerge. Josh Tillman confesses as much all throughout.
“The album progresses, sometimes chronologically, sometimes not, between two polarities: the first of which is the belief that the best love can be is finding someone who is miserable in the same way you are and the end point being that love isn’t for anyone who isn’t interested in finding a companion to undertake total transformation with. I won’t give away the ending, but sex, violence, profanity and excavations of the male psyche abound.
“My ambition, aside from making an indulgent, soulful, and epic sound worthy of the subject matter, was to address the sensuality of fear, the terrifying force of love, the unutterable pleasures of true intimacy, and the destruction of emotional and intellectual prisons in my own voice. Blammo.
“This material demanded a new way of being made, and it took a lot of time before the process revealed itself. The massive, deranged shmaltz I heard in my head, and knew had to be the sound of this record, originated a few years ago while Emma and I were hallucinating in Joshua Tree; the same week I wrote the title track. I chased that sound for the entire year and half we were recording. The means by which it was achieved bore a striking resemblance to the travails, abandon and transformation of learning how to love and be loved; see and be seen. There: I said it. Blammo.”
Father John Misty Tour Dates:
01-16 Felton, CA – Bret Harte Hall
01-17 Sonoma, CA – Vet’s Hall Ballroom
01-18 Chico, CA – El Rey Theatre
02-09 Los Angeles, CA – Roxy *
02-12 Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade NYC *
02-14 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *
02-16 Montreal, Quebec – Virgin Mobile Corona Theater *
02-18 Toronto, Ontario – Danforth Music Hall *
02-21 Dublin, Ireland – Whelans
02-22 Glasgow, Scotland – King Tuts
02-23 Manchester, England – Gorilla
02-26 London, England – Village Underground
02-27 Leeds, England – Brudenell Social Club
02-28 Bristol, England – Thekla
03-03 Paris, France – La Maroquinerie
03-04 Brussels, Belgium – Botanique – Orangerie
03-05 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
03-07 Berlin, Germany – Privatclub
03-08 Hamburg, Germany – Nochtspeicher
03-25 Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works +
03-26 Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse +
03-27 Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel +
03-28 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club +
03-31 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club +
04-01 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer +
04-03 Chicago, IL – Vic Theater +
04-04 Minneapolis, MN – First Ave +
04-07 Lawrence, KS – Granada +
04-08 Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room +
04-09 Denver, CO – Ogden Theater
04-22 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater ^
04-23 Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s ^
04-24 Austin, TX – Stubb’s ^
04-25 New Orleans, LA – Civic Theater ^
* with Guy Blakeslee
+ with King Tuff
^ with Luluc