Album of the week

FATHER JOHN MISTY God’s Favorite Customer (Bella Union)

JOSH TILLMAN (right) adopted his tongue-in-cheek alter ego Father John Misty six years ago because he had grown tired of making ‘sad b*****d music’ and wanted to enjoy himself.

His music since then has been fiercely ambitious.

I Love You Honeybear was inspired by his marriage to photographer Emma Garr. Last year’s Pure Comedy was grandiose.

Bruised by a period of upheaval that ended up with him living in a New York hotel for two months as his personal life unravelled, Tillman now calls those albums ‘pretentious’ and is playing the sensitive songwriter once more.

He hasn’t completely reverted to ‘sad b*****d music’, but God’s Favorite Customer is certainly subdued, by his standards.

Dominated by piano ballads that echo Harry Nilsson, it’s an enigmatic heartache album that chronicles his descent into despair and hollow hedonism. Please Don’t Die uses a tuneful chorus to sugarcoat a sorry tale of ‘pointless benders with reptilian strangers’.

There’s plenty of droll humour. The Songwriter imagines Tillman in a job-swap with his wife — ‘What would it sound like if you were the songwriter?’ — while Mr. Tillman details his New York hotel stint, with staff voicing concern for his well-being and another guest, singer Jason Isbell, expressing unease.

His eloquence is matched, as always, by some sublime melodies — and even the odd glimmer of hope. ‘I’ll see you the next time, ‘round the bend,’ he concludes, suggesting this saga could run and run.