Father John Misty Says His Next Album Will Be "The Real 'I Love You, Honeybear,' but Without the Cynicism"

Some prospective song titles include "Ouch, I'm Drowning," "Dum Dum Blues" and "Mr. Tillman, Please Exit the Lobby"

Photo: Rick Clifford

BY Calum SlingerlandPublished Nov 16, 2017

Father John Misty's Pure Comedy is expected to place on countless year-end lists before 2017 comes to a close, and the musician born Josh Tillman has already revealed he has another full-length close to completion. Now, he's already pulling back the curtain on his forthcoming fourth LP in a new interview.

Speaking with Uncut, Tillman described the disc as "the real I Love You, Honeybear, but without the cynicism," adding that "it's a heartache album." He dove deeper into the album's genesis as follows:

Most of this next album was written in a six-week period where I was kind of on the straits. I was living in a hotel for two months. It's kind of about… yeah… misadventure. The words were just pouring out of me. It's really rooted in something that happened last year that was… well, my life blew up. I think the music essentially serves the purpose of making the painful and the isolating less painful and less isolating. But in short, it's a heartache album…

I think I instinctually understood that if I blew everything up, I could put it back together better than it was. But look, I don't want to talk about what happened. Maybe in 30 years from now I will. I know that sounds dramatic. But to talk to me about what this album's about, I'd have to bring other people into the picture who don't want to be.


Tillman also noted that the album was recorded with Foxygen's Jonathan Rado, whom he met while playing drums on Adam Green's solo LP Aladdin last year:

Jonathan Rado was producing it at this tiny studio. At the end of the day, I asked, "What are you doing tomorrow?" I didn't have any plans to start making a new record. Jonathan said to come on by, so I went over there the next day and started putting down my songs. And I said to myself, "I guess this is happening now." It was clear we're not making demos.

UPDATE (11/17, 10:30 a.m. EST): Unfortunately, Father John Misty has taken to Facebook to deny the interpretation of his upcoming album.

In a post, he denounced the idea that the next record will be "I Love You, Honeybear without the cynicism," calling the Uncut journalist's reading of his words "mutilated dadaist refrigerator poetry" and announcing his retirement from interviews. Read the post below.


 
Tillman also revealed that song titles currently include "Ouch, I'm Drowning," "Dum Dum Blues," "Mr. Tillman, Please Exit the Lobby" and "Well, We're Only People and There's Nothing Much We Can Do About It."

Before he gets to a new full-length, Tillman may end up releasing a live LP recorded for Third Man Records. He also chipped in on Tim Heidecker's album of Trump songs.

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