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Jun 01, 2018 By Michael Watkins Father John Misty

This week we have tie for Album of the Week, with Father John Misty‘s God’s Favorite Customer (on Sub Pop) and Natalie Prass’ The Future and the Past (on ATO) both taking the top spot.

For those of us who have followed Josh Tillman’s canonical rise to cult songwriter superstardom as Father John Misty, it’s fair to say that the theatricality surrounding this character is a massive contributing factor as to whether you love or hate the records he has produced. On the whole, even objectively, it’s hard to deny the prowess and impressive curation that has gone into his work post-Fleet Foxes, the Seattle-based alt-folk band for whom Tillman was once a drummer.

His 2015 record I Love You, Honeybear and last year’s Pure Comedy felt like huge events, from the back stories behind both releases to the extraneous materials that were released alongside both-who could forget the 22-minute long trailer/film that the latter was announced with. It therefore, cannot be underestimated how different God’s Favorite Customer initially feels. At practically half the length of it’s predecessor and sans the ideological and cultural sermons borne from it, this is a hugely different beast and feels like the most settled Misty record to date.

Detractors will say that this is proof of him knocking the engine into auto pilot mode and just pressing 10 new songs in order to capitalize on Pure Comedy‘s success. But, with standout tracks such as the extremely funny “Mr. Tillman,” the nostalgic “Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All,” and the emotional mid-album sucker punch of “Please Don’t Die,” this observation quickly comes tumbling down. Across those aforementioned tracks, Tillman is at close to his best, striking a perfect balance between his alter-ego’s well-documented self-righteousness and his exceptional ability he still possesses to craft emotive, complex, singer/songwriter ballads. An interesting addition to his back catalogue to say the least, the proficiency with which Father John Misty can put out albums of such quality is admirable to say the least.

Far from the only great record to be released this week though, it would be a gross oversight not to also reserve a mention for Natalie Prass’ sophomore record The Future and the Past, that sees her break from the shackles of quirky, alternative songstress that her debut did such a great job of painting her as and become fully-realized as the thinking person’s pop star. Tracks like “Short Court Style” and “Sisters” remain among the year’s best to date and the sky appears to be the limit as she uses the past to paint herself an exceedingly bright future.

Read our review of Father John Misty’s God’s Favorite Customer.

Read our review of Natalie Prass’ The Future and the Past.

Father John Misty Tour Dates:

Jun. 01 - Barcelona, ES - Primavera Sound Festival
Jun. 02 - Nimes, FR - This is Not A Love Song Festival
Jun. 03 - Paris, FR - We Love Green Festival
Jun. 05 - Warsaw, PL - Palladium
Jun. 07 - Porto, PT - Primavera Sound Festival
Jun. 08 - Aarhus, DK - NorthSide Festival
Jun. 10 - Hilvarenbeek, NL - Best Kept Secret Festival
Jun. 12 - Oslo, NO - Sentrum Scene
Jun. 14 - Bergen, NO - Bergenfest
Jun. 15-17 - Hunter, NY - Mountain Jam
Jun. 16 - Minneapolis, MN - Rock The Garden Festival! at Walker Art Center
Jun. 24 - Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Bowl *
Jul. 13 - Louisville, KY - Forecastle Festival
Jul. 20 - Jacksonville, OR - Britt Pavilion !
Jul. 21 - Troutdale, OR - Edgefield Amphitheatre !
Jul. 22 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party
Jul. 27 - New York, NY - Panorama Music & Arts Festival
Jul. 28 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival @ Jane Pickens Theater [Official Aftershow]
Jul. 29 - Portland, ME - Thompson’s Point ^
Aug. 01 - Raleigh, NC - North Carolina Museum of Art Park Theater ^
Aug. 02 - Washington, DC - The Anthem ***
Aug. 03 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE ***
Aug. 04 - Toronto, ON - Historic Fort York & Garrison Commons
Aug. 10-12 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
Aug. 12 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory Concert House %
Aug. 13 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Union %
Aug. 15 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre **
Aug. 17 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater @
Aug. 17-19 - Omaha, NE - Maha Music Festival
Sep. 09 - Vancouver, BC - SKOOKUM Festival
Sep. 20 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater $
Sep. 21 - Indianapolis, IN - MacAllister Amphitheater at Garfield Park $
Sep. 22 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre $
Sep. 25 - Charlottesville, VA - Jefferson Theater $
Sep. 26 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore $
Sep. 28 - Miami Beach, FL - The Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theater $
Sep. 29 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live $
Oct. 01 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre $
Oct. 03 - Birmingham, AL - Iron City $
Oct. 06 - New Orleans, LA - Civic Theatre
Oct. 05-07 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival
Oct. 09 - Knoxville, TN - The Mill & Mine
Oct. 10 - Oxford, MS - The Lyric Oxford
Oct. 11 - Oklahoma City, OK - The Jones Assembly
Oct. 12-14 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival
Oct. 26 - Gateshead, UK - Sage Gateshead ^^
Oct. 27 - Liverpool, UK - Olympia ^^
Oct. 28 - Portsmouth, UK - Portsmouth Guildhall ^^
Oct. 29 - Leicester, UK - De Montfort Hall ^^
Oct. 30 - Bath, UK - The Forum Bath ^^
Nov. 01 - Antwerp, Belgium - De Roma ^^
Nov. 02 - Eindhoven, NL - Effenaar ^^
Nov. 03 - Groningen, NL - TakeRoot Festival
Nov. 05 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso ^^
Nov. 06 - Darmstadt, DE - Centralstation ^^
Nov. 07 - Berlin, DE - Huxleys Neue Welt ^^
Nov. 09-10 - Weissenhäuser Strand, DE - Rolling Stone Weekender
Nov. 11 - Gothenburg, SE - Konserthuset ^^
Nov. 14 - Budapest, HU - Müpa Budapest, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall ^^
Nov. 15 - Vienna, Austria - Arena Wien ^^
Nov. 16 - Rust, DE - Rolling Stone Park
Nov. 17 - Zurich, CH - Rote Fabrik ^^
Nov. 18 - Lausanne, CH - Les Docks ^^

! w/ Blitzen Trapper
* w/ Gillian Welch
** w/ TV on the Radio
*** w/ Bully
^ w/ Jenny Lewis
% w/ Lucy Dacus
@ w/ David Beeman
$ w/ King Tuff
^^ w/ Bedouine

www.fatherjohnmisty.com

Natalie Prass Tour Dates:

June 1 - New York, NY - Rough Trade
June 2 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
June 3 - Richmond, VA - Broadberry
Aug 19 - Marietta, OH - Mountain Stage
Sept 18 - Columbus, OH - Ace of Cups
Sept 19 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall
Sept 20 - Madison, WI - High Noon Saloon
Sept 21 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club
Sept 24 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey
Sept 25 - Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret
Sept 26 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
Sept 28 - San Francisco, CA - Slim’s
Sept 29 - Los Angeles, CA - Troubadour
Sept 30 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
Oct 2 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar
Oct 7 - Tulsa, OK - The Vanguard
Oct 8 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
Oct 10 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
Oct 14 - New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa
Oct 16 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
Oct 17 - Asheville, NC - The Mothlight
Oct 18 - Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge
Oct 19 - Raleigh, NC - Kings
Nov 8 - London, UK - Electric Brixton

www.natalieprass.com

Album of the Week Runner-ups (Also Released This Week):

In any other week, either the new album by Neko Case or the debut album by LUMP (a new band that teams up Laura Marling and Tunng’s Mike Lindsay) could’ve easily been our Album of the Week. So we wanted to especially highlight those two as well.

Neko Case: Hell-On (ANTI-)

Read our review of Hell-On.

LUMP: LUMP (Dead Oceans)

Read our review of LUMP.

Plus these albums and EPs also came out this week:

Juliana Daugherty: Light (Western Vinyl)

Sam Evian: You, Forever (Saddle Creek)

Joan of Arc: 1984 (Joyful Noise)

Mazzy Star: Still EP (Rhymes of an Hour)

Oneohtrix Point Never: Age Of (Warp)

Sons of an Illustrious Father: Deus Sex Machina: Or, Moving Slowly Beyond Nikola Tesla (Self-Released)

Tancred: Nightstand (Polyvinyl)

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