By Anna-Sofia Takala, Year 11
New Music Monday is a new addition to the LGB Express. It’s a music review written every week or so, about artists or albums worthy of mention.
The first edition is about the artist Father John Misty, and his album Pure Comedy, 2017.
Pure Comedy is a mockery of the state of modern society. By listening to the powerful, thought-provoking lyrics accompanied by the mellow melody of the music, it is without a doubt “comedy” that comes to stand out.
Joshua Tillman, better known as Father John Misty, wrote this album during a sober period when he momentarily stopped consuming drugs, alcohol and cigarettes to self-help his depression and anxiety. He did this to have as clear a view of the world as possible and ended up writing an album full of cynicism, darkness, but also truth. The songs criticize the current state of western society, concentrating on progress, technology, fame, the environment, politics, aging, social media, addiction, religion, sex, human nature, human connection and his own role in it all.
In the “Ballad of the Dying Man”, one of his songs, he ends with the words “Eventually the dying man takes his final breath, But first checks his news feed to see what he’s ’bout to miss (…) We’ll all be wrong someday.” Father John Misty does not hesitate to give his honest opinion of the world, openly criticizing his surroundings, but himself as well.
One of the great things about the album is that in the middle of all the condemning, is Tillman admitting to being a part of the problem. In “Leaving LA” he sings “Oh great, that’s just what we all need: Another white guy in 2017 who takes himself so goddamn seriously, I’m merely a minor fascination to manic virginal lust and college dudes.” This single statement makes his music easier to relate to: no one wants to relate to a person whose ego is too strong. Tillman is a realist, who tells things as they are.
Thankfully, although he sings mostly of the dark, ironic parts of the human race, he ends almost every song with a vulnerable line about how “Each other’s all we got” (“Pure Comedy”). He admits to some positive parts of society, that make the bad ok. He starts the album with the words “The comedy of man starts like this,” goes through an entire criticism of the world, but ends the album with “But I look at you (…) And it’s a miracle to be alive,” (“In Twenty Years or So”). This ends the album with a note of hopefulness and happiness, that is not actually seen throughout the entire album until this moment. It makes the entirety bearable, to know that we aren’t all doomed in the deepest sense of the word.
Looking to the musical aspects of the album, “Pure Comedy” is an indie-folk, baroque-rock album. He uses a wide range of instruments, but has a more melody-focused tune than a bass-focused tune. In itself, the music could be easy listened to in the background– a melancholic, pleasant melody, but with the heavy lyrics, the album steals your complete attention.
A true musical masterpiece, Pure Comedy is one of the most interesting albums written this year, and definitely worth listening to– if not for the music, then for the messages it conveys.
