“Jesus Christ, girl, what are people gonna think? When I show up to one of several funerals I’ve attended for Grandpa this week. With you. With me. Someone’s gotta help me dig.” So howled Joshua Tillman, also known as Father John Misty, on a dimly lit stage at the Somerville Theatre last weekend and it’s been stuck in my head ever since.
The lights were kept low for almost the entire performance, switching from red to blue hues and then going soft to bathe the singer in pale yellow light. The aesthetics were orchestrated to create the perfect atmosphere for his one-man show. His acoustic sound had a much different effect on me than did his album Fear Fun, the first and only that Tillman has released under the moniker Father John Misty. I enjoyed the layered sounds and harmonies of that record, but wasn’t especially moved by his vocals. However, on stage his voice cut through me like a knife. Deep and rich, it lingered on a single word for several beats longer than expected, and sometimes slipped into a sweet falsetto that had the audience crowing. I was entranced by its power and caught up in the stories and fragment phrases that comprised his lyrics.
Father John Misty made a point of making his performance unconventional. Instead of using a traditional opening band, he was prefaced by a comedian named Kate Berlant. He also came onstage wearing a giant rabbit head. I found some of his stunts unnecessary, such as when he poured an overflowing glass of wine from a bottle on a table next to him and then drank instead from a plastic water bottle. I just thought that he didn’t need it- his dry sense of humor that came out between songs was enough. However, I did appreciate when he wryly played a few songs behind a giant cardboard cutout of an iPhone (I still have a pink razor flip phone).
All in all, I found the performance hypnotic at the time and haunting afterwards. I liked Father John Misty well enough from his album although I wouldn’t have necessarily called myself a fan, but I’ve been putting on his music first thing in the morning when I wake up every day since I saw him perform live. Those lyrics and that voice didn’t leave me lightly. He certainly seemed like someone who was uninterested in fitting the mold (just check out his website), and I’m very curious as to what he’ll do next.