Father John Misty Takes to the Bandstand — and Makes a Sad Stand — on ‘Chloe and the Next 20th Century’: Album Review
variety.comChris Willman Music WriterThe artist formerly known as Josh Tillman has taken fans through some twists before, but “Father John Misty: big band leader” is probably not a curve very many saw coming as a career development in 2022.
The eclectic singer-songwriter certainly hasn’t been shy about employing orchestration before, to the point of bringing his own sizable string section out on tour on his last pre-pandemic outing, probably at considerable personal expense.
But the strings are lusher now, he’s not just adding woodwinds and horns to the mix and, in his fifth “Chloë and the Next 20th Century,” he’s harking back pretty flagrantly at times to the (previous) 20th century’s first half, with at least some of the new songs steeped in the popular music of the ’30s and ’40s.
It was really anyone’s guess how Misty delving into pre-rock pastiche territory might go, given that he never showed that huge a bent toward musical nostalgia up until now, even when his literate indie-pop leaned toward the ornate.
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