Picture the intro to Woody Allen’s classic film Manhattan. Gershwin’s “Rhapsody In Blue” builds to fanfare while Allen, stumbling over his words and repeating himself, attempts to properly capture the majesty of New York City. Soon, the neurotic and disillusioned star fills the screen with philosophical anecdotes about life, love and death.
Father John Misty (a persona which Josh Tillman, the former drummer of Fleet Foxes, created after a hallucinatory weekend spent at Laurel Canyon) creates a similar atmosphere on his out of order concept album, I Love You, Honeybear. Tillman makes jokes about society, and sarcastic, sometimes snarky statements about intelligence to provide a rough-edged atmosphere that emphasizes the impact of his romantic sentiments.
I Love You, Honeybear is his second studio album, following 2012’s Fear Fun.
The title track begins the album with a sardonic ballad that alternates between praising the precious seconds with his wife, while anticipating the fall of mankind. The pivots between romantic and apocalyptic are abrupt:
“My love, you’re the one I want to watch the ship go down with / The future can’t be real, I barely know how long a moment is / Unless we’re naked, getting high on the mattress / While the global market crashes / As death fills the streets with garden variety oblivious / You grab my hand and say in ‘I told you so’ voice: ‘It’s just how we expected… But everything is fine / Don’t give in to despair / because I love you, honeybear.”
“True Affection” flows like an LCD Soundsystem song. It seems like it should have no place on the album, especially following “Chateau Lobby #4 (Two Virgins),” which features a mariachi trumpet solo to celebrate the first time Tillman and his wife consummated their relationship.
“Bored in the USA” is the emotional climax of the story, as Tillman uses his serene vocals to power a song dripping with despair. He sends hopeless prayers to “White Jesus” and “President Jesus,” asking to be saved from being “Bored in the USA.” A laugh-track plays as he recites a list of problems, which buries them under a layer of triviality. After discovering that marriage is more than a “passionate obligation to a roommate,” Tillman has finally come to understand that most people’s biggest problemin the U.S.A. is the fight against boredom.
The album concludes with the simplistic beauty of “I Went To The Store One Day.” The typical Hollywood ending common in so many of Woody Allen’s films makes an appearance here as well, but it doesn’t make the song any less likeable. This song describes the type of romance most people can only dream of, and it all began with a simple trip to the store.
Prior to the release of the album, Tillman worked with psychoacoustics researcher Casey Wescott to create a new album preview service called Signal to Audio Preview (SAP).  The SAP is free to download, but plays like the soulless skeleton of every song. Since all of the detail and emotion is stripped away, the SAP is priced correctly. The stripped-down versions sound like a Nintendo 64 cover of the songs as the lyrics are replaced by a synthesizer mimicking Tillman’s harmonies in robotic form. Essentially, it’s the equivalent of watching Avatar as a silent, black and white, pre-production storyboard sketch.
While the idea is an interesting approach to artist cooperation in combating free downloads, the concept falls short in practice. Tillman’s lyrics and vocals are the selling point of I Love You, Honeybear, and without them, there is little joy in listening.
Follow Craig Wright on Twitter @Wgwcraig