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Oct 29, 2024 By Caleb Campbell

Early next month, LA-based musician and singer/songwriter Jon Patrick Titterington is set to release his debut solo album, See You At The Finish Line. Although the record represents Titterington’s solo debut, he’s likely best known for his stint playing keys in Father John Misty’s band. Over the years, he has also composed music for FX’s The Bear and spent years as a session player for various folk and indie rock outfits.

His latest work finds Titterington throwing back to ‘70s touchstones like Randy Newman, Supertramp, or Steely Dan, evoking various shades of breezy yacht rock, psych-tinged pop, and hooky rock balladry. Meanwhile, his lyrics are at different points heartbroken, playful, and debauched. As Titterington recalls, “A relationship ending – sometimes that makes you relive all these awkward or difficult experiences from your life. While making the record I was doing this speedrun through my adolescence, all the way up to the last bad breakup.”

The full album is out on November 8th, and today Titterington is back with another new single, “M’Lady,” premiering with Under the Radar.

Although they’ve received some amount of cultural revaluation over the years, bands like Steely Dan or The Doobie Brothers were long considered devastatingly cheesy. In that vein, “M’Lady” is a tribute to all things uncool, both new and old, weaving winking lyrical tricks into bursts of piano-laden ‘70s pop rock. The track opens with pounding keys and falsetto vocals before drifting into a series of daydreaming Wurlitzer interludes and a spotlit guitar solo. The band’s acoustics are steeped in live, analog warmth, backing up Titterington’s rock and roll falsetto with groovy basslines and easygoing yacht rock drums. The resulting track is sharply written and loaded with hooks but Titterington is clearly not taking himself too seriously. His lyrics paint a portrait of a geeky (likely one-sided) meet-cute before jumping forward to an imagined wedding, dropping references to Firefly and Quentin Tarantino along the way: “Hello m’lady / A tip of the fedora to you / Say, do you like anime? / Well, it’s not a dealbreaker, we cool.”

Titterington says of the track, “I’ve spent most of my career as a session player and touring gun-for-hire, so artists like Michael McDonald and Toto are pretty close to my heart. ‘M’Lady’ gave me and my co-producer, Dan Bailey, a chance to take that wood panel studio sound out for a jog while telling a story that is, in my opinion, very very stupid.”

Check out the song below. See You At The Finish Line is out on November 8th.