For perhaps the first time in his decade-plus long career, Father John Misty is at a crossroads. Every album he's released has been a hit, another stellar entry from Josh Tillman's therapy couch. Through his five albums, he's grown from an immature, self-absorbed artist to a middle-aged, self-absorbed father. In turn, his concerns have moved from self-destruction and self-destructive love, through sobriety, absolution, and ultimately to living with himself.
However, the crossroad is here — despite Tillman's attempts to dance around it. After solidifying a sound that worked on his first three albums, his last two have flirted with the idea of doing something new: God's Favourite Customer is a calmer approach, while Chloë and the Next 20th Century was a re-imagining of the golden age of Hollywood. The question, then, is simply stick or twist? Keep tinkering with what you have, or try something truly new?
Mahashmashana answers this in the most Father John Misty way possible: Stick, with a twist. The eight-song, 50-minute album feels like a culmination of all that came before it, an updated return to the Fear Fun sound. It has the cinematic nature of Pure Comedy, the perfectly placed stings of Chloë and the rock'n'roll of I Love You, Honeybear all rolled into one new being. It feels fitting to come out right after the release of Greatish Hits: I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said to Crawl, considering it feels like all his best sounds combined.
This isn't to say it's stale: Tillman has clearly spent his 30s growing, and this is shown both in Mahashmashana's lyrics and influences. It feels more Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen than Randy Newman. It's still piano based, but the snark has gone, along with the youthful know-it-all nature. It's poetic but unsure, honest yet humble. To continue the Reed comparison, it feels much more like the unsteady steps of Transformer than the misguided but revelatory confidence of The Velvet Underground & Nico. Still as inwardly focused as ever, it's the inner thoughts of someone coming through the other side of their messy era and realizing it never gets easier.
And there are moments of invention: "Screamland" doesn't quite sound like anything Tillman has done in the past, leaning more into electronic indie rock. It's refreshing to see Tillman try a real departure, after the last couple of albums have seen him tinker around the edges of his familiar sound. But this may be what ultimately holds the album back from true greatness: It's a maturing and mashing together of Tillman's previous work, rather than the exciting new directions his first works were loaded with. The first time listening to I Love You Honeybear's "True Affection"—with its electronic beats mimicking the song's themes — felt like experiencing something cutting edge, or at least rarely seen at that point. From Fear Fun through Pure Comedy, anything felt possible. Tillman pushed every boundary he bumped into — musically, lyrically, and in general persona. Mahashmashana, however, feels more like refinement than innovation. "She Cleans Up" could be one of the best songs of his career, all rocking guitars and trademark swagger. But is it really that much different from "The Ideal Husband"?
While still an immensely enjoyable record, coming from someone who never shied away from mixing it up, it's hard not to walk away from the last song thinking, "Has Tillman lost his nerve?"