FATHER JOHN MISTY Schallplatten & CDs

Review: After turning his hand to big band jazz on his previous album, Father John Misty (John Tilman to friends and family) returns to more familiar sonic territory on this sixth set. The Sanskrit title apparently translates to "great cremation ground", offering a hint to the weighty and philosophical themes behind some of the singer-songwriter's lyrics this time around. In many ways, it is a classic Father John Misty album: all sweeping strings, Americana-tinged folk-rock, grandiose 1970s pop-rock productions, funky-as-hell nods to Rare Earth ('She Cleans Up') effortlessly emotive vocals and White Album-era Beatles excellence.

Review: Perhaps LA's most well-loved postmodern troubadour, Joshua Tillman brings his third album as Father John Misty, a sprawling and theatrical epic polemic on just about all of our modern society. The quality of his writing here is far more complex and impressive, as heart-wrenching chord progressions and grandiose song structures keep the listener firmly in the palm of his hand. The album's title 'Pure Comedy' is the first stab of bitter irony here, as Tillman seems in a more serious and pensive mood than we became used to with tongue-in-cheek and self-assured previous albums 'Fear Fun' and 'I Love You, Honeybear'. That isn't to say that the album is totally humourless, but that Tillman uses it in smaller doses to antidote the cathartic and anxious emotion to far greater effect.