Latest news with #Mahashmashana
The Independent
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Father John Misty's songs about mortality come to life at Royal Albert Hall
Two songs into his encore, just about two hours into his sold-out show at London's venerated Royal Albert Hall, Father John Misty introduces his gentle 10-minute epic, 'So I'm Growing Old on Magic Mountain'. 'So,' the singer-songwriter born Joshua Tillman says, lilting his guitar strap around his bearded neck, 'here's yet another interminable meditation on ageing.' The crowd cheers. They've just lured Tillman back to the stage following a standing ovation for 'Mahashmashana', the nine-minute, blustering, saxophone-speckled title track from his sixth album of trenchant indie folk-rock, released in November. He's being characteristically wry, but another interminable meditation on ageing is precisely what they want. Tillman is at a unique point in his career. Once something of an indie rock enfant terrible, well-known for his sardonic online presence (which satirised online self-promotion and indie rock stereotypes) and his pull-quote-generating interviews, Tillman all but disappeared from social media and even the music press in 2018. He declined promotional interviews for that year's God's Favourite Customer and 2022's Chloë and the Next 20th Century. In a way, one might expect him to be on a victory lap – Tillman released a greatest hits compilation last August. Yet he's never been more potent. Mahashmashana is perhaps his finest record since his breakthrough 2015 album I Love You, Honeybear, more assured in its stark-then-stirring arrangements, its songwriting structure and strong melodies. Its wry, poignant lyricism about meaning and mortality characterise its Tillman-acknowledged 'meditations'. Pitchfork argued its songwriting 'might be the best it's ever been'; The Independent gave the 'wonderful' album four stars. Tillman certainly believes in it – his Royal Albert Hall setlist includes every one of its eight tracks – and so does the audience. Backed by a seven-piece band, Father John Misty's performance brings mammoth orchestral swells and crashing cymbals to the end of 'Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose'. The wall-of-sound chorus of set highlight 'Screamland' crashes into Royal Albert Hall like a tidal wave. The influence of Mahashmashana' s robust arrangements is palpable in older Father John Misty songs on the night, too: 'Nancy From Now On', from his 2012 debut Fear Fun, is bolstered by charging, galloping toms from the second verse onwards, adding emphasis and drive, while a newly bombastic beginning to 'Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All' makes it the set's most-improved performance. It's a small shame that the show begins so timidly. Tillman, facially hirsute but stylish in a dark, slim-fitted suit, his white shirt open to his chest, doesn't speak for the first five songs of his set. It's not until he begins to warm up – making coy little hands movements during 'Being You'; commenting drily that the venue 'is certainly the most dignified place I've ever been in, and I went to the sphere in Vegas'; and, finally, going full goblin-mode as he leans into the dramatised machismo of 'Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow', boxing playfully with the front row – that the crowd does too. From here, though, it's clear sailing to the show's finale – not just on 'Mahashmashana' but a trio of majestic I Love You, Honeybear encore performances, which ends with the title track's chorus, about love in the face of an apocalyptically scary world: 'Everything is doomed, and nothing will be spared / But I love you, Honeybear.' Maybe it's always been this way, that in all of Tillman's songs, the world has always been about to end. If that's the case, well – we'll take another interminable meditation on ageing, please.
Telegraph
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Father John Misty, review: The eccentric star turns the Albert Hall into a church of rock
Part rockstar, part preacher – and totally mesmerising. How else to describe Father John Misty (or, as his evangelical parents baptised him, Joshua Tillman)? At Tuesday night's superb gig at the Royal Albert Hall, the 43-year-old bearded bard of the dispossessed hipster proved, once again, that he is the most striking talent in contemporary indie: sexy and pretentious yet self-deprecating, with a voice so effortlessly powerful that the walls of the Hall seemed to shake with every note. Backed by a terrific band – a particular shoutout goes to saxophonist Tony Barba, whose feverish playing on the opener I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All and flagship single Mahashmashana, the title track from Tillman's latest album, made the evening feel like a sort of jazz-soundtracked special congregation. Tillman shimmied across the stage, lithe and charismatic in a tailored black suit. His pointing fingers seemed to incite more of that religious fervour – an apparent invitation for his adoring subjects to submit themselves wholly to him. Following the universal acclaim for Fear Fun (2012) and I Love You, Honeybear (2015), Tillman could have rested on his laurels and established himself as the saviour of commercial indie rock. But the nihilistic old-school Americana of Pure Comedy (2017), and the big-spirited jazz and Big Band standards on 2022's epic Chloë and the Next 20th Century, hinted that he wasn't content with playing it safe. Late last year, his sixth album Mahashmashana took it further, with its long, slow songs proving challenging on first listen – but joyfully, they came alive at the RAH. Frantic, pounding percussion heralded the start of that album's standout track, She Cleans Up, as flashing orange lights bounced off the opulent red velvet curtains covering the Hall's private boxes and turned the space into the depths of Hell itself. Respite came – for both the audience and Tillman's brooding baritone, stretched to its limit by his frenzied, impassioned delivery – courtesy of Screamland, a beautiful, Leonard Cohen-worthy rumination on clawing your way out from rock bottom ('Like a sucker with a scratcher / Like a f--- up with a dream'). Tillman's varied catalogue must make choosing a setlist difficult, but the mix of older, humorous tracks and more serious new material made for an endearing victory lap – songs written when he was a 'precocious 33-year-old', he said, felt embarrassing to perform now, but it didn't stop him dropping to his knees and going full throttle for Chateau Lobby #4 ('I wanna take you in the kitchen/ Lift up your wedding dress/ Someone was probably murdered in'). The ghostly Mental Health was introduced as 'another beautiful ballad about getting gaslit by capitalism', while the closing masterpieces Holy S--- and I Love You, Honeybear tightened his grip on the already spellbound audience; you could hear a pin drop for much of the set. Tillman's 'modern life is rubbish' message is not that different from other artists': the internet is making us stupider, religion can be dangerous, and sex can indeed be weaponised. But it's how he says it – beautifully, devastatingly – that sets him apart.
New York Times
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
My Favorite Concerts I Saw This Winter
Image Father John Misty Aba Even during this long, often bitterly cold winter, I sometimes made it out of my apartment — please clap — to see live music. To commemorate this monumental human achievement, today I'm offering you a playlist of some of the best artists I've caught onstage so far this year. They include a one-woman band with a flair for electronic wizardry (Time Wharp), a young poet turned songwriter with a gorgeously heavy-hearted voice (Mustafa) and a sharp satirist who knows exactly when to get unexpectedly sincere (Father John Misty). I intend for these occasional reports from live shows to become a new recurring Amplifier feature, so look out for more of them in the near future — once the weather turns temperate enough that I am compelled to leave my home even more frequently. Spring: Please hurry! I spent a hundred bucks on gas, baby, let's just have a good time, Lindsay Last Wednesday, the singer-songwriter Father John Misty played Manhattan's storied Beacon Theater for the first time. Toward the end of the sold-out show, he told the crowd he wanted to commemorate the occasion with a tribute: 'Here's five minutes from Jerry Seinfeld's set from his Beacon run last year.' Classic Father John Misty banter — and not true at all, since he immediately launched into another of his own wryly incisive tunes. FJM (whose real name is Joshua Tillman) certainly has a way with a Harry Nilsson-style ballad, as he demonstrated throughout the Beacon set, but one of my favorite moments of the night came when he played this verbose rocker from his latest album, the wide-ranging 2024 release 'Mahashmashana.' Elaine Benes dance optional. ▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube It remains by far the most imaginative, technically impressive live cover I've seen so far this year: One late January night at Berlin, a small venue in the East Village, the experimental musician Kaye Loggins, who records as Time Wharp, used loop pedals and a distorted electric guitar to build a completely singular instrumental rendition of Joni Mitchell's 'Coyote.' You will, unfortunately, just have to take my word for it, since that seems to have been a one-off performance. But this luminous, hypnotic track from Time Wharp's excellent 2022 album 'Spiro World' gives a sense of Loggins's style and her inventive virtuosity. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? Log in. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Boston Globe
23-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
By turns arch and earnest, Father John Misty sent fans out on a note of love
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Anybody bite off more than they could chew?' Tillman asked the crowd after a few more deadpan songs. 'Yeah, I get it.' His advice: 'Just dissociate.' Advertisement After an opening set by the Vancouver band Destroyer, led by frontman 'It's always darkest right before the end,' he sang on 'Screamland,' from 'Mahashmashana.' That song seems to be about the hopelessness of optimism: 'Stay young/ Get numb/ Keep dreaming/ Screamland.' Tillman also fixates on the banality of entertainment. Dressed in a well-tailored black suit (crisp white shirt, no tie), when he wasn't strumming his acoustic guitar he roamed the stage like a Millennial lounge lizard, raising his palm up to the light in a wan gesture of devotion. Advertisement He grew up in an evangelical Christian household, in which secular music was forbidden. His gestures may be ministerial, but his songs are a running commentary on the religion of the self – people who prioritize 'working on themselves.' On 'She Cleans Up,' also from the latest album, the band erupted in a punky fury. The show could have used a bit more of that dynamism. But a couple songs later came a showstopper, 'Summer's Gone,' a Great American Songbook-style tearjerker with Tillman accompanied only by delicate piano. The band got its biggest workout on the closing number of the regular set on the album's title track, 'Mahashmashana,' a majestic, nearly 10-minute anthem that George Harrison could have played at his Concert for Bangladesh. A generous five-song encore featured songs from ' In hindsight, it seems uncanny that Tillman wrote one of those songs, 'Holy S—,' 10 years ago, back in more innocent times. 'Planet cancer, sweet revenge/ Isolation, online friends,' he sang on this deceptively breezy, strummy song. But if you were spiraling by the end of that depressing litany, Tillman had one more thought before sending you out into the cold night. 'My love, you're the one I want to watch the ship go down with,' he crooned on 'I Love You, Honeybear.' And he seemed to mean it. FATHER JOHN MISTY With Destroyer At MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Saturday, Feb. 22 James Sullivan can be reached at . Advertisement
The Independent
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
End of the Road Festival announces new names Viagra Boys, Matt Berninger and DIIV for 2025 instalment
Viagra Boys, Matt Berninger and DIIV will be joining End of the Road headliners Father John Misty and Self Esteem for the festival's 2025 instalment. The annual event takes place in Larmer Tree Gardens near Blandford, Dorset, and this year will be held between 28 and 31 August. The festival announced an initial set of headliners in December, with top-billing acts Caribou, Father John Misty, Self Esteem and Sharon Van Etten. The latest additions are led by The National frontman Matt Berninger, Swedish punk band Viagra Boys and Brooklyn rock band DIIV. They will be joined by singer-songwriter Christopher Owens – the former frontman of the now-defunct indie rock back Girls – and Bristol-based indie musician Katy J Pearson. Other new names include Mabe Fratti, Mandy Indiana, Moin and Sofia Kourtesis. Father John Misty's spot on the bill comes after he released his critically adored sixth album, Mahashmashana, in November 2024. Born Josh Tillman, the American artist first rose to fame in the Noughties with the indie-folk band Fleet Foxes before signing a solo record deal under his FJM moniker. In The Independent 's four-star review of the album, Helen Brown wrote: 'The melodies are gorgeous and the lyrics come with that special umami of being precise yet elusive.' British pop artist Self Esteem has been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize; her last album, Prioritise Pleasure, was released in 2021. Meanwhile, American singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten's latest record, We've Been Going About This All Wrong, came out in 2022, also to positive reviews. Other artists on the lineup include Geordie Greep, former frontman of the experimental rock outfit Black Midi, and chamber rock group Black Country, New Road, along with South African funk artist Moonchild Sanelly. In a five-star review of this year's festival, The Independent's Louis Chilton wrote the festival felt like a bittersweet ending to summer, since the happens at the end of festival season each year. He praised the 'great music and great vibes' on offer, singling out performances from Irish pop-country singer CMAT and rock band Idles. Festival founder, Simon Taffem, said in a statement: 'End of the Road is all about discovery, and I can't wait to welcome a whole load of amazing new acts that have never played before' Enjoy unlimited access to 100 million ad-free songs and podcasts with Amazon Music Sign up now for a 4 month free trial (3 months for non-Prime members) Sign up He added: 'As always we will be doing everything we can to make it the best year yet, with plenty of surprises to come.'
