Father John Misty Announces I Love You, Honeybear, Performs “Bored in the USA” on “Letterman”
Father John Misty—the former Fleet Foxes member Josh Tillman—has announced the follow-up to his great 2012 album Fear Fun. I Love You, Honeybear is out February 9 in Europe via Bella Union and February 10 everywhere else via Sub Pop. That’s the amazing artwork above.
Below, watch him perform the album cut “Bored in the USA” alongside a 22-piece string section on tonight’s “Late Show With David Letterman”.
Update: The Current have posted audio of Tillman’s six-song set from July 2013, which features performances of “I Love You, Honeybear” and “Bored in the USA”. Listen here.
The album was produced by Tillman and Jonathan Wilson (who also worked on Fear Fun), mixed by Phil Ek, and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.
In addition to the standard digital, CD, and 2xLP editions, the album will receive a limited edition deluxe 2xLP alternate cover on tricolor vinyl housed in something called a “Dioramic, Meta-Musical Funtime gatefold jacket”. All CDs and LPs will come with a fold-out poster featuring photos by Emma Tillman, design from Alia Penner, and extensive “Exercises for Listening” written by Josh Tillman. CD and LP pre-orders will come with eight demos on cassette while supplies last.
The LP’s press release comes with a letter from Tillman detailing the album’s concept. Spoiler: The word “blammo” is used frequently and effectively. Read the whole thing below the tracklist.
Also below are a series of freshly announced tour dates. On the tour, he’ll be backed by a seven-piece band. King Tuff, Guy Blakeslee, and Luluc are all set to open at various dates.
I Love You, Honeybear:
01 I Love You, Honeybear
02 Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)
03 True Affection
04 The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apt.
05 When You’re Smiling and Astride Me
06 Nothing Good Ever Happens At the Goddamn Thirsty Crow
07 Strange Encounter
08 The Ideal Husband
09 Bored In The USA
10 Holy Shit
11 I Went To The Store One Day
Father John Misty:
01-16 Felton, CA – Bret Harte Hall
01-17 Sonoma, CA – Vet’s Hall Ballroom
01-18 Chico, CA – El Rey Theatre
02-09 Los Angeles, CA – Roxy *
02-12 Brooklyn, NY – Rough Trade NYC *
02-14 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom *
02-16 Montreal, Quebec – Virgin Mobile Corona Theater *
02-18 Toronto, Ontario – Danforth Music Hall *
02-21 Dublin, Ireland – Whelans
02-22 Glasgow, Scotland – King Tuts
02-23 Manchester, England – Gorilla
02-26 London, England – Village Underground
02-27 Leeds, England – Brudenell Social Club
02-28 Bristol, England – Thekla
03-03 Paris, France – La Maroquinerie
03-04 Brussels, Belgium – Botanique – Orangerie
03-05 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso
03-07 Berlin, Germany – Privatclub
03-08 Hamburg, Germany – Nochtspeicher
03-25 Nashville, TN – Marathon Music Works +
03-26 Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse +
03-27 Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel +
03-28 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club +
03-31 Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club +
04-01 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer +
04-03 Chicago, IL – Vic Theater +
04-04 Minneapolis, MN – First Ave +
04-07 Lawrence, KS – Granada +
04-08 Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room +
04-09 Denver, CO – Ogden Theater
04-22 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater ^
04-23 Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s ^
04-24 Austin, TX – Stubb’s ^
04-25 New Orleans, LA – Civic Theater ^
* with Guy Blakeslee
+ with King Tuff
^ with Luluc
Here’s Tillman’s letter:
“I Love You, Honeybear was recorded all through 2013 to 2014 in Los Angeles with producer Jonathan Wilson, who I also recorded and produced 2012’s Fairly Fun with. There’s a case to be made that it sounds and acts a bit like solo-era John Lennon, Scott Walker, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, and Dory Previn, while taking more than a few cues from Woody Allen, Kurt Vonnegut, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Muhammad Ali. It has a decidedly more soulful presence than Fear Fun, due in no small part to the fact that I am truly singing my ass off all over this motherfucker. The album is really characterized by the scope and ambition of the arrangements. Nearly every tune is augmented by something special, be it orchestral strings, a mariachi band, questionable electronic drum solos, ragtime jazz combos, soul singers, or what have you. I’m pretty sure there’s a sitar in there somewhere. Blammo.
“I Love You, Honeybear is a concept album about a guy named Josh Tillman who spends quite a bit of time banging his head against walls, cultivating weak ties with strangers and generally avoiding intimacy at all costs. This all serves to fuel a version of himself that his self-loathing narcissism can deal with. We see him engaging in all manner of regrettable behavior.
“In a parking lot somewhere he meets Emma, who inspires in him a vision of a life wherein being truly seen is not synonymous with shame, but possibly true liberation and sublime, unfettered creativity. These ambitions are initially thwarted as jealousy, self-destruction and other charming human character traits emerge. Josh Tillman confesses as much all throughout.
“The album progresses, sometimes chronologically, sometimes not, between two polarities: the first of which is the belief that the best love can be is finding someone who is miserable in the same way you are and the end point being that love isn’t for anyone who isn’t interested in finding a companion to undertake total transformation with. I won’t give away the ending, but sex, violence, profanity and excavations of the male psyche abound.
“My ambition, aside from making an indulgent, soulful, and epic sound worthy of the subject matter, was to address the sensuality of fear, the terrifying force of love, the unutterable pleasures of true intimacy, and the destruction of emotional and intellectual prisons in my own voice. Blammo.
“This material demanded a new way of being made, and it took a lot of time before the process revealed itself. The massive, deranged shmaltz I heard in my head, and knew had to be the sound of this record, originated a few years ago while Emma and I were hallucinating in Joshua Tree; the same week I wrote the title track. I chased that sound for the entire year and half we were recording. The means by which it was achieved bore a striking resemblance to the travails, abandon and transformation of learning how to love and be loved; see and be seen. There: I said it. Blammo.”
Recent Comments