Last year Father John Misty (real name Josh Tillman), dropped Pure Comedy. The album was one of the year’s finest, with Tillman touching on subjects like technology, fame, aging, and humanity. This week he announced his follow-up, God’s Favorite Customer. The upcoming project is already looking to be a departure from the last, with both tracks he released alongside the announcement being more upbeat than a majority of his last work. However the two new singles, “Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All” and “Just Dumb Enough To Try,” continue to ooze with Tillman’s sardonic and intelligent lyricism.
The first single “Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All,” is a folk-pop anthem with tinges of psychedelia in the guitars and vocals. Tillman hits the high notes over the short chorus. The track’s ultimate message that people shouldn’t act like every relationship is some perfect romance movie is terse and simple. His usage of metaphor during the verses, comparing love to off putting things such as oil spills and eye twitches, is classic Father John Misty.
Tillman also released a second single, the piano-led “Just Dumb Enough To Try”. The track features fantastic crooning by Tillman as expected, but shakes things up with a breakdown featuring fuzzy guitars and synths. The instrumentation creates a dense sonicscape for Tillman’s lyrics to occupy. Once more Tillman reflects on love, this time his lack of knowledge on the subject. He looks at his own abilities as a musician and intellectual, realizing he shouldn’t write about love, but doing it anyway.
The first two singles, along with the previously released track “Mr.Tillman,” will be a part of the upcoming 10 track record for Father John Misty. God’s Favorite Customer is out June 1st and looks to be a piece of self reflection for the self-proclaimed future “Oldest Man in Folk Rock.”