''Pure Comedy'' is the third studio album by American
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
musician
Josh Tillman
Joshua Michael Tillman (born May 3, 1981), better known by his stage name Father John Misty, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has also performed and released studio albums under the name J. Tillman.
Maintainin ...
under his pseudonym Father John Misty. Its release was announced on January 23, 2017. It was released on April 7, 2017 on
Bella Union
Bella Union is a British independent record label founded in 1997 by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. It is now run solely by Raymonde.
History
After releasing records with 4AD for a large part of their career, Cocteau Twin ...
in the UK and Europe and on
Sub Pop in the rest of the world.
This is Tillman's third studio album since his departure from
Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes is an American indie folk band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 2006. The band consists of Robin Pecknold (vocals, guitar), Skyler Skjelset (guitar, mandolin, backing vocals), Casey Wescott (keyboards, mandolin, backing vocals), ...
. It was produced by Josh Tillman in collaboration with
Jonathan Wilson, sound engineer Trevor Spencer and composer/double-bassist
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music.
Early life and career
Born on 16 January 1943 in ...
.
Production
Songwriting
Most of ''Pure Comedy'' was written in 2015.
It touches on themes of progress, technology, fame, the environment, politics, aging, social media, human nature, human connection and his own role in it all. Tillman included an 1800-word-long essay about its symbolism and meaning in the release announcement email to his fan club.
''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.
Recording
''Pure Comedy'' was recorded in March 2016 at United Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Its basic tracking and vocals were recorded live, in no more than two takes each. It was mixed by Tillman, Wilson and sound engineer Trevor Spencer, and mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios. Featured instruments include strings and horns. Bryars, along with additional contributors Nico Muhly and Thomas Bartlett, provided choral arrangements.
Promotion
Short film
In light of the album announcement, Tillman released his 25-minute short film Pure Comedy: The Film, captured by a six-person room throughout the recording of the album. He co-directed with Grant James. It is a monochromatic depiction of the live tracking and Tillman’s writing process.
Singles
The single "Pure Comedy" was released on January 23, 2017 with a music video animated by Matthew Daniel Siskin featuring snippets of popular Internet videos.
The album's second single, "Two Wildly Different Perspectives", was released with a music video also animated by Siskin, and also containing popular videoclips, on January 30, 2017.
The third single released was "Ballad of the Dying Man" on February 1, 2017.
The fourth single, "Total Entertainment Forever", was released on the night it was performed on ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...
'' (along with "Pure Comedy") on March 4, 2017.
Other music videos
On April 26, 2017, a music video produced by
Adam Green was released for "Total Entertainment Forever". It features a crucified
Macaulay Culkin
Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...
as
Kurt Cobain seen in a
virtual reality
Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), e ...
world pictured in
papier-mâché
upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti
upright=1.3, Papier-mâché Catrinas, traditional figures for day of the dead celebrations in Mexico
Papier-mâché (, ; , literally "chewed paper") is a composite material consisting of p ...
.
Jacknife Films , a production company best known for their work on Radiohead's "Burn the Witch" and Run the Jewels's "Don't Get Captured" music videos, took on the project of a music video for "Things It Would Have Been Helpful To Know Before the Revolution" that was released on August 3, 2017.
Pure Comedy world tour
The Pure Comedy world tour, initially meant to be in the form of a musical, began in April 2017 and continued until early 2018.
Critical reception
''Pure Comedy'' received acclaim from critics. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 85, based on 36 reviews, which signifies "universal acclaim".
A review from The Record Store Clerk remarked that "Pure Comedy (shows) a mature artist proving that he can continue to make music at the top of his game and likely will for years to come." In a highly positive review for Chorus.fm, Aaron Mook writes, "''Pure Comedy'' is a gorgeous album, an album that will remain important in the context of Tillman’s career, but above all things, it’s a ''genuine'' album. Sometimes, it’s hard to empathize with someone who refuses to tell you what you want to hear – especially if what they’re saying is true." Writing for ''
No Depression'', John Amen also offered high praise, calling ''Pure Comedy'' Tillman's "most ambitious, cohesive, and provocative release to date."
However, the album did divide some critics. No Ripcord gave the album a 4/10, saying "One of the most frustrating releases of recent times. Tracks meander insipidly, crushed by the weight of a solipsistic 'message' and the real moments of quality only serve as a reminder of what might have been."
Spin stated, "He’s not really in a fun mood, and the music follows. The lushness has diminished, and the work evokes increasing comparisons to ‘70s singer-songwriters like Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson, who hid their acidic commentary within sturdy pop structures."
''Pure Comedy'' received nominations for
Best Alternative Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. H ...
and
Best Recording Package for its deluxe edition at the
60th Grammy Awards
The 60th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 28, 2018. The CBS network broadcast the show live from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show was moved to January to avoid coinciding with the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongch ...
, winning the latter in a tie with
Magín Díaz
Magín Díaz García (30 December 1922 – 28 November 2017) was a Colombian musician and composer. He is best known for performing traditional music from the Caribbean coast of Colombia and for composing several popular songs. He is particularly ...
' ''El Orisha de la Rosa''.
Accolades
Commercial performance
''Pure Comedy'' debuted at number 10 on the
''Billboard'' 200 with 35,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...
s, of which 33,000 were pure album sales.
Track listing
Personnel
Performance
*
Josh Tillman
Joshua Michael Tillman (born May 3, 1981), better known by his stage name Father John Misty, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has also performed and released studio albums under the name J. Tillman.
Maintainin ...
- vocals, guitar, drums, percussion, etc.
*
Jonathan Wilson - keyboards, guitars, piano, drums, percussion, backing vocals, vibraphone, samples
*
Thomas Bartlett - piano, keyboards
* Elijah Thomson - bass
* Daniel Bailey - drums, percussion
*
Keefus Ciancia
Keith Ciancia, better known as Keefus Green or Keefus Ciancia is an American musician, composer and music producer. He has won an Ivor Novello Award and been nominated for an Emmy. Along with his long time creative collaborator, T Bone Burnett, ...
- keyboards, samples
* Kyle Flynn - electric guitar
Production
* Jonathan Wilson – production, mixing
* Josh Tillman – production, mixing
* Trevor Spencer – mixing, engineering
* Vira Byramji – additional engineering
* Dave Cerminara – additional engineering
* Rouble Kapoor – additional engineering
* Bryce Gonzales – additional engineering
*
Bob Ludwig – mastering
Design
*
Ed Steed – illustrations, art direction
* Sasha Barr – art direction, additional art and designs
* Josh Tillman – art direction
Arrangement
*
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music.
Early life and career
Born on 16 January 1943 in ...
– horn arrangement , string arrangement
*
James King – horn arrangement , additional horn arrangement
* Josh Tillman – horn arrangement , additional horn arrangement , vocal arrangement
* Paul Jacob Cartwright – string arrangement
* Tom Lea – string arrangement
*
Nico Muhly
Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestras ...
– string arrangement
* Chavonne Stewart – vocal arrangement
Additional musicians
* George Potts Young – additional vocals
* De'Ante Duckett – additional vocals
* Ryan Stewart – additional vocals
* Tiffanie Cross – additional vocals
* Vanessa Grundy – additional vocals
* Chavvone Stewart – additional vocals
* Shanika Bereal – additional vocals
* Celeste Young – additional vocals
* Dominique Dubose – additional vocals
*
Greg Leisz
Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and pedal steel guitar.
Biography
Leisz grew up in the garage band cultu ...
– pedal steel , lap steel
* Kelsey Lu – cello
* Gavin Bryars – vibraphone
Charts
''Pure Comedy'' reached the first position on the
Billboard Rock Albums, Alternative Music, and Folk Music charts on the week of April 29, 2017, a first for Tillman.
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
{{Authority control
2017 albums
Josh Tillman albums
Bella Union albums
Sub Pop albums
Albums produced by Jonathan Wilson (musician)
Albums produced by Josh Tillman