FATHER JOHN MISTY
PURE COMEDY
Label: SUB POP
Releasedatum: 15-05-2026
Herkomst: EU
Item-nr: 4871075
EAN: 0098787120011
Levertijd: Verwacht op 15-05
Recensie
2LP - Black Vinyl (2026 Sub Pop Reissue).
Er zijn albums die je per ongeluk in de boekenkast wilt terugzetten. Pure Comedy van Father John Misty is er zo één. Op de negen minuten durende titelsong ontleedt hij de menselijke soort: religie, technologie en entertainment als onderdelen van één grote tragikomische voorstelling. Muzikaal beweegt het album tussen uitersten: soms Tillman alleen achter de piano, dan weer rijk georkestreerde pop. Tien jaar later staat Pure Comedy er nog altijd als een kathedraal. (Wim Koevoet)
Pure Comedy, Father John Misty’s third album, is a complex, often-sardonic, and, equally often, touching meditation on the confounding folly of modern humanity. Father John Misty is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Josh Tillman. While we could say a lot about Pure Comedy – including that it is a bold, important album in the tradition of American songwriting greats like Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, and Leonard Cohen – we think it’s best to let its creator describe it himself.
Take it away, Mr. Tillman: Pure Comedy is the story of a species born with a half-formed brain. The species’ only hope for survival, finding itself on a cruel, unpredictable rock surrounded by other species who seem far more adept at this whole thing (and to whom they are delicious), is the reliance on other, slightly older, half-formed brains. This reliance takes on a few different names as their story unfolds, like “love,” “culture,” “family,” etc. Over time, and as their brains prove to be remarkably good at inventing meaning where there is none, the species becomes the purveyor of increasingly bizarre and sophisticated ironies. These ironies are designed to help cope with the species’ loathsome vulnerability and to try and reconcile how disproportionate their imagination is to the monotony of their existence. Something like that.
Pure Comedy was recorded in 2016 at the legendary United Studios (Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Beck) in Hollywood, CA. It was produced by Father John Misty and Jonathan Wilson, with engineering by Misty’s longtime sound-person Trevor Spencer and orchestral arrangements by renowned composer/double-bassist Gavin Bryars (known for extensive solo work, and work with Brian Eno, Tom Waits, Derek Bailey).
Tracklist:
A1. Pure Comedy
A2. Total Entertainment Forever
A3. Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution
A4. Ballad of the Dying Man
B1. Birdie
B2. Leaving LA
C1. A Bigger Paper Bag
C2. When the God of Love Returns There'll Be Hell to Pay
C3. Smoochie
C4. Two Wildly Different Perspectives
C5. The Memo
D1. So I'm Growing Old on Magic Mountain
D2. In Twenty Years or So
Er zijn albums die je per ongeluk in de boekenkast wilt terugzetten. Pure Comedy van Father John Misty is er zo één. Op de negen minuten durende titelsong ontleedt hij de menselijke soort: religie, technologie en entertainment als onderdelen van één grote tragikomische voorstelling. Muzikaal beweegt het album tussen uitersten: soms Tillman alleen achter de piano, dan weer rijk georkestreerde pop. Tien jaar later staat Pure Comedy er nog altijd als een kathedraal. (Wim Koevoet)
Pure Comedy, Father John Misty’s third album, is a complex, often-sardonic, and, equally often, touching meditation on the confounding folly of modern humanity. Father John Misty is the brainchild of singer-songwriter Josh Tillman. While we could say a lot about Pure Comedy – including that it is a bold, important album in the tradition of American songwriting greats like Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, and Leonard Cohen – we think it’s best to let its creator describe it himself.
Take it away, Mr. Tillman: Pure Comedy is the story of a species born with a half-formed brain. The species’ only hope for survival, finding itself on a cruel, unpredictable rock surrounded by other species who seem far more adept at this whole thing (and to whom they are delicious), is the reliance on other, slightly older, half-formed brains. This reliance takes on a few different names as their story unfolds, like “love,” “culture,” “family,” etc. Over time, and as their brains prove to be remarkably good at inventing meaning where there is none, the species becomes the purveyor of increasingly bizarre and sophisticated ironies. These ironies are designed to help cope with the species’ loathsome vulnerability and to try and reconcile how disproportionate their imagination is to the monotony of their existence. Something like that.
Pure Comedy was recorded in 2016 at the legendary United Studios (Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Beck) in Hollywood, CA. It was produced by Father John Misty and Jonathan Wilson, with engineering by Misty’s longtime sound-person Trevor Spencer and orchestral arrangements by renowned composer/double-bassist Gavin Bryars (known for extensive solo work, and work with Brian Eno, Tom Waits, Derek Bailey).
Tracklist:
A1. Pure Comedy
A2. Total Entertainment Forever
A3. Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution
A4. Ballad of the Dying Man
B1. Birdie
B2. Leaving LA
C1. A Bigger Paper Bag
C2. When the God of Love Returns There'll Be Hell to Pay
C3. Smoochie
C4. Two Wildly Different Perspectives
C5. The Memo
D1. So I'm Growing Old on Magic Mountain
D2. In Twenty Years or So
