Father John Misty – Mahashmashana Review

Any day starting with listening to Father John Misty is great. Mahashmashana, the latest album from the long-serving singer-songwriter is a masterstroke of his baroque fundamentals blending with new avenues of instrumental and lyrical creativity. At a time when it feels relatively easy to link a song or suggestion to a songwriter’s main three passions (love, hate, confusion), Josh Tillman finds a new challenge and fresh perspective on the world around him. Mahashmashana holds an almost immediate connection to previous moments in his discography, from the lead single featured on the greatest hits compilation to the sense of growth heard from song to song. Father John Misty set an already high bar for himself, pushed higher by his dedicated listeners, and he meets their expectations with a headstrong and remarkably insightful confidence through Mahashmashana. 

The tingling warmth of the title track opener has the broad charms of a man paying tribute to his influences, to those burial grounds stocked full of the greats. Flickers of musicians like George Harrison do not overtake the unique charms of those booming instrumentals, the blur of string and brass to create this larger-than-life feeling is staggering yet well maintained as any eight-minute track should be. Variety in this consistency leads to one of the best Father John Misty tracks around. Many can fight for that top spot like She Cleans Up. A feedback-driven punch of grainy electronics and staggering brass. Saxophone thrills and lyrical spills are almost always a perfect pairing and for the steady tempo hit on by Tillman here, the cacophony of instrumentals is poised to steal from those sharply written moments. They do not. The key is balance and the trust Mahashmashana has not just in its listeners to return to these songs but in the instrumental variety, those moments that serve as an underlining of those specifics Tillman reaches for.

Socially and artistically rich references on Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose find comfort in the degree of separation there is between Father John Misty and the man who embodies it. Through an ever-shifting vocal range (the moody Lou Reed-like vocals heard in spots throughout are marvellous), Tillman can keep us guessing. Claw at what is left of your mental health with the aptly titled Mental Health, the depths of the writing thrown into the spotlight here. Paired with the outstanding single Screamland and there, imperfection lay as a tool, not for betterment but as a blunt instrument to our confidence. We replay the moments of our past not because we wish to learn from them but because they provide us comfort, a comfort which is dismantled and reassembled through the flowery momentum of Being You.  

Listen in, listen again. These are imaginative instrumentally-led masterpieces. Each one has a new turn or angle for how we see ourselves. The perceptions of our day-to-day experiences are tested, on trial for the trivial pursuits and positivity we find in the world. Hindsight is your worst enemy. Those blank reflections of the past and the assumption it was better back then are stopped in their tracks on I Guess Time Makes Fools of Us All. It does. But hearing these leading questions, those large conversations and ideas that keep us up at night in the hands of Tillman, is reassuring. He pulls at the usual hangups and anxieties and repackages them as something still to fear, but because of a new edge, a protruding extra element, those usual heartaches feel a little more manageable. Mahashmashana is an all-time high for Tillman, a luxurious and layered piece which grows and grows.