10 Best Songs of the Week: Father John Misty, The Weather Station, Horsegirl, Fat Dog, and More

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Welcome to the 38th Songs of the Week of 2024. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Matt the Raven, Scotty Dransfield, and Stephen Humphries helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 30 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 10. 

Issue 73 is out now. It features Maya Hawke and Nilüfer Yanya on the two covers and can be bought from us directly here.

We’re also trying to raise the final funds to print Issue 74 and are offering 30% off subscriptions and back issues.

In recent weeks we posted interviews with Chinese American Bear, Nada Surf, Ekko Astral, Miki Berenyi of Lush, and more.

In the last week we reviewed some albums.

To help you sort through the multitude of fresh songs released in the last week, we have picked the 10 best the last seven days had to offer, followed by some honorable mentions. Check out the full list below.

1. Father John Misty: “Mahashmashana”

Father John Misty (aka Josh Tillman) released a new album, Mahashmashana, today via Sub Pop. We were sent an advance press copy a couple of months ago and so there are two album tracks not released as pre-release singles that we’ve been loving and wanted to include on Songs of the Week. The first of those is the epic nine-minute opening track, “Mahashmashana.”

Stream the whole album here.

When the album was announced Father John Misty shared a new song from it, the near-seven-minute long “Screamland,” via a music video. The song featured Alan Sparhawk from Low on guitar and was one of our Songs of the Week. The next single was “She Cleans Up,” also one of our Songs of the Week.

In July Father John Misty announced and released a new best of album, Greatish Hits: I Followed My Dreams and My Dreams Said to Crawl. It included one new song, “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All,” which is also featured on Mahashmashana, and was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Father John Misty’s last studio album was 2022’s Chloë and The Next 20th Century.

Tillman produced Mahashmashana with Drew Erickson and Jonathan Wilson executive produced the album.

Read our 2017 cover story interview with Father John Misty.

Read our 2017 cover story bonus Q&A with Father John Misty.

2. The Weather Station: “Window”

The Weather Station (the project of Toronto-based singer/songwriter Tamara Lindeman) is releasing a new album, Humanhood, on January 17, 2025 via Fat Possum. This week she shared its second single, “Window,” and announced some new tour dates. Linderman co-directed the song’s video with Philippe Léonard. The new North American tour dates stretch from late March to early June. Check out the tour dates here.

In a press release, Lindeman says the video was “filmed on the island of Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs, Quebec late one night with a battery powered projector, with many attempts to get that one perfect take. Philippe’s note to me was ‘you are the window.’”

Previously The Weather Station shared the album’s first single, “Neon Signs.” Lindeman co-directed the “Neon Signs” video with Jared Raab and the single made our Songs of the Week list.

Humanhood follows 2021’s Ignorance and 2022’s companion album, How Is It That I Should Look At the Stars.

Linderman co-produced Humanhood with Marcus Paquin, recording it in the fall of 2023 at Canterbury Music Company. The main backing band on the album is drummer Kieran Adams, keyboardist Ben Boye, percussionist Philippe Melanson, reed-and-wind specialist Karen Ng, and bassist Ben Whiteley. The album also features Sam Amidon, James Elkington, and Joseph Shabason. Joseph Lorge mixed the album.

Read our 2021 interview with The Weather Station.

3. Father John Misty: “Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose”

The other Father John Misty album track we liked, “Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose,” was actually released as a single today via a music video featuring live footage. The dramatic string parts bring to mind Angel Olsen’s 2019 song “New Love Cassette.”

4. Horsegirl: “2468”

This week, New York-via-Chicago-based rock trio Horsegirl announced a new album, Phonetics On and On, and shared its first single, “2468,” via a music video. They also announced some tour dates. Phonetics On and On is due out February 14, 2025 via Matador. Check out the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as the tour dates, here.

Phonetics On and On is the band’s sophomore album and the follow-up to 2022’s Versions of Modern Performance. Horsegirl is Penelope Lowenstein (guitar, vocals), Nora Cheng (guitar, vocals), and Gigi Reece (drums). In the fall of 2022 the band relocated to NYC for Lowenstein and Reece to attend NYU. In January 2024 the trio returned to Chicago to record the album at The Loft, with Welsh singer/songwriter Cate Le Bon producing.

Eliza Callahan directed the “2468” video, which was choreographed by Alexa West.

Read our review of Versions of Modern Performance here.

5. Fat Dog: “Peace Song”

South London five-piece Fat Dog released their debut album, WOOF., in September via Domino. This week they shared a brand new track, “Peace Song,” via a music video. The song features a children’s choir.

Joe Love fronts Fat Dog and the band also features Chris Hughes (keyboards/synths), Ben Harris (bass), Johnny Hutchinson (drums) and Morgan Wallace (keyboards/saxophone).

When the album was announced, the band shared its lead single “Running,” via a music video. “Running” was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared its next single, “I am the King,” via a music video. It was also one of our Songs of the Week. The album’s next single, “Wither,” was released via a music video inspired by ’90s video games and was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Love produced the album with James Ford and Jimmy Robertson. Influences mentioned in the press release include: Bicep, I.R.O.K, Kamasi Washington, and the Russian experimental EDM group Little Big. WOOF. includes the band’s previously released first two singles, “King of the Slugs” and “All the Same.”

“A lot of music at the moment is very cerebral and people won’t dance to it,” says Hughes. “Our music is the polar opposite of thinking music.”