Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

[lazarus]

More candid thoughts:

Here Is the Scandalous Father John Misty Interview You’ve Been Waiting For | Pitchfork

 

[cobl04]

I enjoyed that interview a lot (treating anxiety with microdoses of LSD..!) he's a super interesting person, extremely entertaining (I've interviewed him myself in the past) and he's reasonably self-aware as well, nailing his fanbase and wondering if his FJM moniker is on the verge of outliving itself.

I just think he's beginning to vastly overestimate his own mind and sense of humour / sense of irony. I will wait until I hear the album, which I will probably still buy, but I have been a fan of his because he makes good music. With a track like Bored in the USA, which is interminable, extremely dull and only remotely interesting due to the lyrics, he started placing far greater emphasis on ironic writing and performance and sacrificed the music in the process. Fear Fun and Honeybear were, for the most part, really great because they had both great music and funny, ironic lyrics. I will reserve judgement, but everything I've seen and heard so far doesn't bode well.

Take this one-off single from last year:



Fucking great song. I'd take an album full of that eight days a week.

 

[LemonMelon]

With a track like Bored in the USA, which is interminable, extremely dull and only remotely interesting due to the lyrics, he started placing far greater emphasis on ironic writing and performance and sacrificed the music in the process.

Pure Comedy will make you want to die.

Personally, I liked Bored in the USA in isolation, but 75 minutes in that mode is a living hell.

 

[Imperor]

This thing is somehow even worse than I thought it would be.

 

[LemonMelon]

88 metascore my ass.

 

[lazarus]

I won't offer up much after only one listen, particularly one that was on my car stereo. This is dense stuff, and while certainly a slog that offers a considerably less pleasurable listening experience than the previous two albums, there is also some beautifully written and arranged material on here.

This is something that really deserves a more focused listen, will put it on the stereo at home over the weekend.

 

[No spoken words]

Hi there.

I was pretty excited for this album, as my consumption of new music continues to lessen.....I gave the album two spin-a-dins, one in my car coming from work, and another once home, via my headphones.

I am sure that repeated listens would reveal nuances or pleasures I might have missed after just two listens, but, I have to say, I derived just about no pleasure from either trip through the album.

I. Am. Disappointed.

 

[david]

I get the point of the album but damn that was a chore to sit through.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

NSW comes back to comment on how disappointed he is in a new fucking Father John Misty album? Jesus Christ this forum really is dead.

 

[lazarus]

 

[dan_smee]

I get the disappointment here, but I think the doom and gloom is a bit over-estimated BECAUSE of the self-importance of the subject material. Just because it is a bit on the nose at times doesn't take away from the strong elements here.

Musically it is quite well put together - plenty of 70s Elton John and John Lennon in there. I quite enjoyed it to be honest, and I think that may be because my interest in FJM before this album cycle was sporadic at best - I liked some songs, but hadn't spun full albums more than two or three times each. It isn't that I didn't love it, but more that every time the opportunity arose I was feeling other genres.

In short - I think this album is much more appealing to those who weren't uber-fans already. The first four are all really strong and growing on me, but it does trail off form there.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

I love NSW.

 

[cobl04]

I get the disappointment here, but I think the doom and gloom is a bit over-estimated BECAUSE of the self-importance of the subject material. Just because it is a bit on the nose at times doesn't take away from the strong elements here.

Musically it is quite well put together - plenty of 70s Elton John and John Lennon in there. I quite enjoyed it to be honest, and I think that may be because my interest in FJM before this album cycle was sporadic at best - I liked some songs, but hadn't spun full albums more than two or three times each. It isn't that I didn't love it, but more that every time the opportunity arose I was feeling other genres.

In short - I think this album is much more appealing to those who weren't uber-fans already. The first four are all really strong and growing on me, but it does trail off form there.

Interesting. Why do you think that is? (I still haven't listened to it yet.) I'm just annoyed because here in Aus all these people are coming out of the woodwork loving it, I'm assuming because Triple J is thrashing it?

 

[dan_smee]

Interesting. Why do you think that is? (I still haven't listened to it yet.) I'm just annoyed because here in Aus all these people are coming out of the woodwork loving it, I'm assuming because Triple J is thrashing it?

No idea re Triple J - o only ever listened in the morning, and the new guys are terrible.

I am liking it more and more too. It's like 70s Elton John playing the overtly political John Lennon solo songs.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[iron yuppie]

Only half-way through right now, but already I can say the idea this is a collection of Bored in the USAs is not even remotely true. It is stubbornly mid-tempo, but there has already been quite a lot of instrumental variety.

 

[PhilsFan]

I'm very disappointed that a lot of people are going to listen to this and never hear the first two albums because of it.

 

[cobl04]

preach. ugh

 

[elevated_u2_fan]

preach. ugh

 

[PhilsFan]

The exact moment I knew this album would be bad was on the lead single when he sang "Where did they find those goons they elected to rule them?" Just an atrocious lyric and a harbinger of what was to come.

 

[LemonMelon]

Irony

 

[cobl04]

Hahaha. That's a fair call I'll cop that

 

[gump]

Most boring album I've listened to in a while.

 

[Imperor]

The exact moment I knew this album would be bad was on the lead single when he sang "Where did they find those goons they elected to rule them?" Just an atrocious lyric and a harbinger of what was to come.

 

[PhilsFan]

We just had April Fools' Day here in America, but if you ask me the real April Fools are in Congress.

 

[UnforgettableLemon]

Only half-way through right now, but already I can say the idea this is a collection of Bored in the USAs is not even remotely true. It is stubbornly mid-tempo, but there has already been quite a lot of instrumental variety.

Yeah, I know I'm in the minority here, but I didn't get the "Bored" analogies much. I kind of love the album. It doesn't grab me immediately the way that Honeybear did, but I actually enjoy the "way-too-on-the-noseness" of some of the lyrics. For me, it mostly works. There are parts of it that hit me like a ton of bricks, especially "When the God of Love Returns, There'll Be Hell to Pay"'s closing lines. I'd say trimming 2-3 of the tracks in the middle would make a huge difference.

 

[iron yuppie]

9/10

 

[cobl04]

Nothing has ever surprised me less than Anthony Fantano giving that a 9/10.

 

[iron yuppie]

I posted that specially for you, Cobbs.

 

[u2popmofo]

This new album has been a major slog to get through. King of Limbs-esque disappointment for me.

:infinitesadness:

 

[iron yuppie]

Has King of Limbs finally been supplanted as B&C's favorite whipping boy?