Father John Misty is a 43 year old musician, singer/songwriter & producer from Rockville, Maryland notable for being the original Fleet Foxes drummer in addition to releasing his first 8 albums Untitled, I Will Return, Long May You Run, J. Tillman, Minor Works, Cancer & Delirium, Vacilando Territory Blues, Year in the Kingdom & Singing Ax under his original moniker J. Tillman until rebranding himself from the Sub Pop Records debut Fear Fun onwards. I Love You, Honeybear was my introduction to him during my senior year of high school with Pure Comedy & God’s Favorite Customer maintaining that high quality. Chloë & the Next 20th Century became his most moderately received work yet in the spring of 2022, looking to redeem himself on his 14th studio LP.
The title track starts with this 9 minute intro assuring all is silent & not having to do the corpse dance until the next universal dawn whereas “She Cleans Up” works in elements of garage rock revival, boogie rock, glam rock & post-punk revival singing about the aggrieved becoming the aggressor & us doing it all again. “Josh Tillman & the Accidental Dose” has a bit of a Bobbie Gentry influence to it cautioning that one may never be whole again while “Mental Health” takes the orchestral pop route suggesting we’re all far too well.
“Screamland” brings singer/songwriter, art pop, neo-psychedelia, noise pop & post-industrial together into 1 advising to stay young on top of getting numb & continue dreaming just before “Being You” reflects on a dissociative state that he was in for 5 years. “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All” fuses singer/songwriter, boogie, disco, funk rock & funk music pulling inspiration from the book Men of Mathematics by Eric Temple Bell just before “Summer’s Gone” finishes by singing about time being unable to touch him.
Being a fan of Father John Misty for nearly a decade, Mahashmashana is his best since God’s Favorite Customer & lands right behind I Love You, Honeybearfor my favorite in his discography altogether. His production takes cues from the singer/songwriter, chamber pop & baroque pop vibes of his previous material whilst additionally venturing out into art pop, boogie, disco, funk rock, funk, neo-psychedelia, noise pop, post-industrial, orchestral pop, garage rock revival, boogie rock, glam rock & post-punk revival for an experiment in seeing what happens when he erases himself from his work.
Score: 4.5/5
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