Born in Maryland, Josh Tillman (Father John Misty) has been a part of numerous music groups such as Fleet Foxes, and Saxon Shore. With them he helped create the albums Helplessness Blues, Be a Bright Blue, and Four Months of Darkness. Additionally, Josh Tillman released over seven studio albums under the name J. Tillman. Father John Misty has been releasing music since 2012, beginning with Fear Fun and moving through I Love You, Honeybear, Pure Comedy, and into the newest album God's Favorite Customer. This album fuses a lot of soft piano with melancholy lyrics about heartbreak. I really looked forward to this album due to the success of the last few albums, and I was not disappointed.
Starting with track one, "Hangout at the Gallows" begins with a slow and soft introduction with Josh's voice singing "Sun is rising." This song is put at the beginning of the album and its lyrics represent someone starting their day "left foot, right foot, that's the ticket." As if in some way, the listener is starting their day by listening to this album. My favorite lyric of this song was "whose bright idea was it to sharpen the knife" and this lyric could represent the idea of a knife being sharpened in order to end a relationship. My favorite part of this track was during the chorus: "What's your politics, what's your reli-hi-gion." This part sounded awesome because of the way the lyrics are sung, and the question it asks; what do you believe in?
Sluggishly moving forward on this album, track two "Mr. Tillman" gives off the impression that the person singing it is high and floating through life. "I'm floating on an island in my mind" essentially trying to escape to this imaginary place in order to get away from whatever is stressing them out. It also could be interpreted as Josh Tillman singing about himself, which wouldn't be the first time because he also has a track off of I Love You, Honeybear called "The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apartment." My favorite lyric in this track was "What a beautiful tattoo that man had on his face" and this is because I thought it to be facetious and funny.
Track three "Just Dumb Enough To Try" was one of the more popular songs off of this album, and I agree with the popularity. About halfway through this song there's a jazzy saxophone interlude and it absolutely blew me away. The lyrics "you can take what I know about love and drown it in the sink" show that even though Josh is throwing away everything he knows about love, he will still continue to pursue it.
The chorus to the next song "Date Night", "nothin' impresses me much" is ironic due to the feeling I get from listening to it. This is because the track does not bring a whole lot to the table as a song, additionally it was super short.
Track five "Please Don't Die" was my favorite song off this album, and I loved every part of this song. The chorus shows how passionate he is about someone else and how he's begging them to "please don't die for any one night." Essentially begging that person not to leave his life as a result to something that had been caused previously. This song is super basic with a verse-chrous-verse-chorus structure, however I can't help but love it. The slow ending to this track leads into the next song "The Palace."
"The Palace" is another slow song on this album, however the lyrics to this track are more spoken word than sung. The only part of this song that I enjoyed was during the lyrics "Maybe I'll get a pet, take care of somebody else, maybe I'll name him Jeff." I enjoyed how comical and out of place this lyric sounded, but as a whole this song didn't interest me as a listener.
Another one of the faster tracks on this album, "Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All" is also one of the shortest songs. The song's chorus "disappointing diamonds are the rarest of them all" is the central theme, and a lyric that stuck out to me was "does everybody have to be the greatest story every told." This lyric presents the idea that everyone's lives are different and most of the time only a small percentage of people experience a "happily ever after."
Following "Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest of Them All" is the title track "God's Favorite Customer." This song features my favorite introduction and the piano is fantastic. The lyrics "all good things have to stop the bar closes at 5, but the big man is just opening shop" show that this song is about how all good things must eventually come to an end. The final few lyrics "speak to me, sweet angel" were presented in an outstanding fashion and completely blew me away.
The only "aggressive" song on this album was "The Songwriter" and this can be seen through its lyrics. Tillman is essentially singing about this metaphorical person who is perceived to be cold-hearted by leaving his life: "who has a sense to ever leave you be, how could you do this to me." I found the lyrics "what would it sound like if you were the songwriter and loving me was your unsung masterpiece" interesting. This is due to the way that he sings the lyrics, and the song immediately ends on that negative note.
The final track "We're Only People (And There's Nothing Much Anyone Can Do About That)" uses string instruments at the start and follows with lyrics that basically tie the album as a whole. "I'll see you next time round the bend" sounded like Tillman was literally saying goodbye to the listener and afterwards the album ends.
"God's Favorite Customer" was one of the more depressing albums in the Father John Misty discography and I enjoyed the melancholy sounding theme that it presented. I thought that this album could have used a little less piano, but as a whole this album was really great to listen to. You can purchase this album in nearly any record store, and I think that Newbury Comics has a limited pressing of it as well. This album received a 6 out of 10 because although it sounded great, it's not an album I can envision myself listening to in the future.
