Pure Comedy is the third release by musician Josh Tillman under the Father John Misty name, and it is easily his most daring and ambitious project yet. And I say that that just in the sense of the obvious political themes all over this album (we'll get to that soon), but I actually think this is his most ambitious album musically as well. This LP is loaded with additional instrumentation and the song structures themselves are often more sprawling and linear than anything off of FJM's previous efforts. This of course means that most of the immediacy of an album like I Love You, Honeybear is gone, but in my opinion, Pure Comedy would be a lot less enjoyable if it was trying to do the same thing. Instead, Tillman lets his folk side shine through on this album, which leads to such wonderful moments as "Leaving LA" and "Birdie". FJM also takes the opportunity to try some more experimental tricks on tracks like "The Memo" where some interesting vocal edits are utilized.
The one criticism about the music I have for this album is that I feel like, taken in one sitting, the album does feel a little do gauzy and syrupy to the ears; this thing takes it's time and doesn't really ever explode with energy. Of course, neither did the last album, but Pure Comedy is twice as long and towards the end, I always feel a little anxious for it to be over. Still, the music here on the whole is very high quality and easily on par with past FJM projects if not better.
Then there's the subject matter/ lyrics of this album which seems to be the point of contention for a lot of listeners. You either love the dry, sardonic lyrics about politics, social issues, and the human condition, or you don't. And as I've skimmed through many online publications giving this album some pretty low scores, that was the big point they seemed to be making; that this album is just too cynical and there's not enough positivity backing the political lyrics. But in my opinion, that's sort of the point. Tillman, who is usually pretty dry and sarcastic in his music to begin with, isn't trying to be the folk-rock mood savior of our current political nightmare; instead, he's a muckraker, sorting out what he feels is BS and giving to the listener straight up. And for people complaining that this album is too wordy, or "pretentious", look back at any of FJM's previous work and actually read the lyrics, because his style of writing has not changed, his subject matter has.
Again, this is just my opinion, but I think FJM has presented his political opinions and observations in a very well thought out a musically rich way that doesn't pound the listener over the head with weak attempts at virtue signalling or pulpit play like so many other artists are doing these days. In fact, Pure Comedy may be the finest LP about the human condition and just general condition of America that I've listened to in the last few years, let alone post election year. But hey, if you don't dig the album, I'm not gonna try and convince you. To me, Pure Comedy is a great LP, flawed, yes, but still great.
8.8/10
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