Father John Misty – Mahashmashana
Since his debut as Father John Misty with 2012’s Fear Fun, Josh Tillman has carefully crafted a niche within “indie” rock—a descriptor I place in quotes as I can easily imagine Tillman scoffing at the word and all that it carries with it, especially in the early 2010s. Though technically all of his music has actually been released through an independent label, Sub Pop, he’s clamored to separate his music from the slacker rock crowd, whether it be through the highbrow level of his prose or his contradictory instrumentals. But, there’s always been a growing love for his intricately written, sometimes psychedelic folk-rock that remains affecting despite his drive to be a bit weird, a bit more isolated. On his sixth album Mahashmashana, Tillman further hones his eclectic chamber pop, brushing away some of the sharper edges and finding a warmer tone.
About halfway through Mahashmashana, Tillman launches into a Roy Orbison-esque ballad on “Mental Health,” crooning about the internal struggles of staying sane in this bleak landscape of reality, blended with soaring strings and glittering percussion. It’s almost as if we can more easily take in the harshness—“This hallucination / the cathedral in the prison / where the dreams of a citizen / can only tell you what is wrong with them”—when it’s served with dazzling instrumentals. Surely paying homage to the distraction economy that so often accompanies the mental health discussion and its remedies, Tillman has never shied away from speaking his mind, whether we are ready to fully grasp it or not.
What’s most striking on this album compared to his previous bodies of work is the extremes within tracks. These songs are often longer and more expansive, taking a greater journey from the intro to the chorus—most noticeably on the explosive “Screamland,” building from a quiet, preaching tone, to a blasting washed out chorus, a cathartic release of energy with the message, “Stay young / get numb.” On the disco-tinged penultimate track “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All,” Tillman nearly inhibits a Steely Dan-like approach to his vocals, its bongo-laden drums also bringing a yacht-rock sound to mind. Many of the tracks on the album are some of Tillman’s longest to date, four of them over six minutes long and two of them surpassing eight. The epic opening title track begins with a fireworks display of instrumentals, exploring a range of styles and emotions over nine minutes, nearly sounding like it should be the conclusion of the album, yet it is just the beginning.
Father John Misty’s past albums have felt easier to nail down—Fear Fun felt a bit cynical if more straightforward in its approach, and Pure Comedy took a more dramatic look at the state of the world with a Laurel Canyon-soaked sound. But on Mahashmashana, the persona of Father John Misty feels a bit conflicted; the songs on the album feel connected, but in a way, that connection is uncertainty. As Tillman sings about the state of us all and our social experiences, it feels like he has comfortably settled into the in-between. While the journey may feel a little uneasy, Father John Misty seems to find freedom within the chaos of it all.
Label: Sub Pop
Year: 2024
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Father John Misty: Mahashmashana
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