Valentine’s Day nears and romance is in the air, romance mingled with the looming specters of midterms, endless global conflicts, political strife and social unrest.
Enter Father John Misty (aka Josh Tillman), swaggering in like a lovesick lounge lizard waiting for the end of the world. With “I Love You, Honeybear,” his second release under the Father John Misty moniker, Tillman explores the many facets of love in the modern world.
The title track sees lovers on the brink, with Tillman crooning “f-- the world, damn straight malaise / it may be just us who feel this way.” This is love as a sole refuge in a world plunging into madness: “the neighbors are complaining / that the misanthropes next door are probably conceiving a Damien / Don’t they see the darkness rising?” In the face of oblivion, Tillman clings to love as a final refuge.
“Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)” swaps desolation for idealization. Here, nothing matters beyond the one you love, as Tillman asserts “People are boring / but you’re something else completely.” Singing to his wife, Emma, over a galloping beat punctuated by sweeping strings and mariachi horns, Tillman presents his view of love as life-altering in its intensity.
Perhaps the album’s most immediately relatable song, “True Affection,” laments, “when can we talk / with the face / instead of using all these strange devices?” Noticeably lacking acoustic instrumentation, the song is instead built on an 808 drum beat and ultra-slick synth loops. The authenticity of Tillman’s harmonies in contrast to the computer-generated music points to tension inherent in building a genuine human relationship on electronic communication.
“The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment” is a bitingly funny exploration of an alternative to love: physical attraction pulled as a thin veneer over hatred. “Of the few main things I hate about her / one’s her petty, vogue ideas … and now every insufferable ‘convo’ features her patiently explaining the cosmos / of which she’s in the middle,” Tillman tenderly moans over an arrangement befitting a classic romantic ballad.
“When You Are Smiling and Astride Me,” “Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow” and “Strange Encounter” bring Tillman closer to the earth to deal with deep personal insecurities and the struggles faced in building a life with his wife: assurances of openness and transparency, anger toward flirtatious outsiders and resentment of his own former ways as a ladies’ man and the realization love requires lifestyle changes when a drug trip almost ends in disaster.
Where the title track is an image of love abiding in a world of madness, “The Ideal Husband” presents love as madness, ending with a raging marriage proposal and a chaotic instrumental outro.
The final three songs are a microcosm of the album overall. Lead single “Bored in the USA” expresses malaise and anxiety in a life adrift, with sardonic quips like “oh good, my brain’s so awfully glad to be here for yet another mindless day.” “Holy Shit” is a beautiful selective review of humanity’s accomplishments and monstrosities, leading to the thought-provoking conclusions “Love is just an institution based on human frailty … maybe love is just an economy based on resource scarcity / but what I fail to see is what that’s got to do with you and me.”
The album ends quietly, a gentle release of built-up tension and passion and anger, as Tillman finally looks forward to a lifetime of love in spite of life’s chaos and anxiety.
“I Love You, Honeybear” is a near-masterpiece, rooted in classic singer-songwriter sensibilities while bursting with unique accents and insights. It’s a perfect record to share with the one you love, or kind of like, or are just attracted to, or actually hate.
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