Review: Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear
By Haden DeRoberts, Contributor
[Sub Pop; 2015]
Rating: 9/10
Key Tracks: “Bored in the USA,” “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins),” “When You’re Smiling and Astride Me”
Three years ago, despite a burgeoning career as the drummer for the much beloved Seattle indie folk collective Fleet Foxes, J. Tillman found himself growing restless of playing second fiddle and moved on from the band at the height of its success. Tillman’s origin story is one seemingly pulled from rock and roll mysticism, as the singer-songwriter migrated down the coast from Seattle to Los Angeles’ Laurel Canyon region, where atop a mountain, like some prophetic son, he experienced a psychedelic spiritual awakening. Aided by a heavy dose of psilocybin, Tillman entered a state of metamorphosis, re-emerging as the enigmatic Father John Misty. His 2012 debut Fear Fun found Tillman trading in his former Fleet Foxes’ grandiose ballads for candid wit and an almost comically cynical awareness of the failures of the human condition.
Fear Fun introduced audiences to Father John Misty as a character seemingly pulled from Tillman’s inner eccentricity, a separate creative persona, a sort of split personality, part comedic instigator, part cultural satirist and part whimsical philosopher. On I Love You, Honeybear, Tillman’s long awaited sophomore effort, we are given a record that bridges the gap and strives to find a sort of balance between the cartoonish Father John Misty and the true to life J. Tillman.
Tillman is very much a storyteller in his songwriting style and I Love You, Honeybear is very much a record that tells a story. Sometime after wrapping up Fear Fun, on a chance encounter in a Laurel Canyon parking lot, Tillman came to meet the love of his life and future wife Emma Garr, a woman who “blackens pages like a Russian romantic and gets down more often than a blow-up doll,” as described by Tillman on the track “Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow.” Tillman’s romance with Garr would come to largely inspire I Love You, Honeybear.
Unsurprisingly the most compelling moments are found as Tillman attempts to reconcile a newfound sense of lovestruck optimism with the witty cynicism he is known for while navigating the complexities of sharing a life with a partner. The album feels like a secret window into Tillman’s romance with Garr. These are love songs, but they are love songs with a distinctly Tillman affect to them, entangled with a sense of clever sarcasm. On the highlight track “Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)” Tillman sings, “I haven’t hated all the same things as somebody else since I remember,” a line that rings with Tillman’s snarky sweetness.
I Love You, Honeybear is representative of Tillman’s inner complexities; it is a deeply personal record that in places is also deeply conflicted. Tillman is romantic, but he seemingly cannot say anything nice without compulsively smothering his sentiments with wiseass remarks. He is funny, but his humor is often rooted in a sense of self-loathing and meanness. The result is an album that translates into a sort of captivating chaos, a beautiful mess, like the diary of some schizophrenic genius, an internal battle between Misty and Tillman.
Sonically the record is dense, favoring swelling vocal harmonies, lush acoustic instrumentation and exuberant strings. However, where this record truly shines is in its unpredictability. Tillman peppers throughout the record brilliant flashes of the unexpected, such as stand-alone track “True Affection,” a glimmering electro-orchestral gem that features refreshingly stripped down lyrical structure and striking vocal falsetto. On “Strange Encounter” Tillman breaks down into a sort of muffled distorted guitar solo, a move that is at first perplexing and moments later highly captivating.
I Love You, Honeybear is an album that exemplifies a significant time in the life of J. Tillman. One that finds the singer-songwriter tackling potent subject matter such as the absurdity of the modern condition and self-absorption on the highlight track “Bored In The USA” or the downfall of the world on “Holy Shit.” In the end Tillman’s sincerity wins out over his humor. The track “I Went to the Store One Day,” a recollection of the day he met his wife, brings the album to a close in what feels like a of moment of clarity, a reevaluation of intimacy and closeness brought on by his companionship with the woman he loves.
