In honor of Father John Misty’s new album lets take a look at his last release in anticipation for his new album! On February 9t 2015 Josh Tillman, known as Father John Misty, released his second studio album titled I Love You, Honeybear on Subpop Records. Early last November Misty previewed the song “Bored in the USA” on Letterman to give his fans a taste of his new album.
Misty’s first album, Fear Fun, was released in 2012 and became a huge hit among critics and fans. His style of music is very similar to the music he preformed with Fleet Foxes. The music is soft yet hard hitting at the same time, which gives it a natural sounding vibe. By that I mean the guitar riffs are soft but complex, and a complexity of instruments are used throughout the album such as trumpets and pianos. Misty’s roots are in folk music and you definitely get the feeling of folk on this album
The lyrics that he writes are very satiric and humorous. In the song “Bored in the USA” Misty highlights the way he feels about the United States and where the future of the US is going. He is almost making fun of the “first world problems” that middle class Americans have. By saying that “They gave me a useless education/ And a subprime loan/ On a craftsman home!” Most songs on the album take this satiric humor turn, but all give the hard truth. Some of the humor on the album is funny humor and other songs it is a dark humor.
The album draws from Tillman’s recent marriage to Emma Elizabeth. This album is heavy on the emotions you experience when you fall in love. In the song “I Love You Honeybear” Tillman refers to his wife as honeybear, but he admits he has never called her that, but he uses it to play up the emotional sap that you’ll hear on the album.