June's Alternative Record of the Month - Father John Misty - God's Favorite Customer (180g)

June's Alternative Record of the Month - Father John Misty - God's Favorite Customer (180g)

Father John Misty is J. Tillman. J. Tillman is Father John Misty. Father John Misty was created as the alter ego for Tillman in 2012 with the release of Fear Fun. He had just left the band Fleet Foxes and created the stage name which has now accumulated four albums with the 2018 release of God's Favorite Customer.

Last year, Tillman released the highly sardonic album Pure Comedy to high critical praise.  NME had the album at #4 on their Albums of the Year list. Rolling Stone had it at #19, Uncut at #13, and Uproxx at number 5 on their comparable lists. Even the Blind Tiger Record Club had it on our Best Vinyl of 2017 list for Singer Songwriter. As good as the record was, it was at times "preachy" and as good as the album sounds, the commentary can be off-putting. 

God's Favorite Customer has toned down the rhetoric, and we are left honest songs that are singable and beautiful. Tillman is a great songwriter and this album almost makes you feel that the fictional character of Father John Misty has become one with Tillman.  

Many of the piano driven songs are reminiscent of early Elton John, but Tillman does a great job of mixing in rock songs in a way that keeps that comparison thin.  The album is self produced, so it's all Tillman, and its his best release to date.

B.T.R.C. - David W. Williams

Tracks
- Side A -
1 Hangout at the Gallows
2 Mr. Tillman
3 Just Dumb Enough to Try
4 Date Night
5 Please Don't Die
- Side B -
1 The Palace
2 Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All
3 God's Favorite Customer
4 The Songwriter
5 We're Only People (And There's Not Much Anyone Can Do About That)
 
What critics are saying about God's Favorite Customer...
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Tillman used to write what he knew; now it’s as though he’s writing what he’s just learned, racing to capture a newborn emotion before it curdles into self-conscious drek. And while God’s Favorite Customer tips slightly into self-pity at times, it’s a passing feeling on an album that peeks behind the many cynical shields of Josh Tillman.  -  Jeremy D. Larson - Pitchfork - Father John Misty
God’s Favorite Customer
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God’s Favorite Customer is his most succinct effort yet, rarely ever breaking from the album’s overall narrative. Clocking in at nearly half of Pure Comedy’s running time, Tillman is at his most direct, writing about the grotesque side of love in full detail and showing what happens when it all goes wrong. As always, his most brutally honest lyrics are his most profound: “Does everybody have to be the greatest story ever told?” he asks at the end of “Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All”. - BY STEVEN EDELSTONE - COS - Father John Misty Trades Humor for Heartbreak on God’s Favorite Customer