Father John Misty – “The Next 20th Century”

In four short days, we get another nice, long look at whatever’s going on inside Josh Tillman’s brain. That’s when Chloë And The Next 20th Century, the long-awaited new Father John Misty album, finds its way into the world. Thus far, the Mist has already shared a generous handful of songs: “Funny Girl,” “Q4,” “Goodbye Mr. Blue.” Today, Tillman has shared a seven-minute colossus that serves as one of the two title tracks from the new LP.

“The Next 20th Century,” a sprawling and ambitious track, opens with Father John Misty singing about a Nazi wedding band over a light samba beat and atmospheric strings. From there, the track surges upward and outward, with noisy squalls of guitar occasionally piercing through the song’s delicate atmosphere, while Tillman offers up a whole lot of images and ideas that we’ll be picking through for a while.

On “The Next 20th Century,” Father John Misty seems to be singing about the difficulty of love in a world where everything is commodified, but there’s more to it than that. There are detours and stray thoughts and namechecks: “Val Kilmer had a wall-length mirror just over there/ Well, I’m sure he’s someone else now, but he was Batman when he lived here.” It’s a fascinating piece of music, and you can hear it below.

Chloë And The Next 20th Century is out 4/8 on Sub Pop and Bella Union.