Album review: Father John Misty puts his heart on a platter on 'God's Favorite Customer'

A year removed from the maddeningly ambitious "Pure Comedy," Josh Tillman, or Father John Misty, has turned in a more focused, 10-song set with "God's Favorite Customer." It's an album full of that sarcastic wit we've come to appreciate as well as some of the singer-songwriter's most vulnerable and heartbreaking moments.

At this stage, Tillman has been open about everything. From his debut, "Fear Fun," the former Fleet Foxes band member positioned himself as a wisecracking songwriter who took the folk genre and made it bearable. His self-aware sense of humor only made it better. On "I Love You, Honeybear," he fell in love and showed how committed he was to that love, no matter the amount of insanity that came with it. On "Pure Comedy," he tried to save the world with his cynicism.

Over the course of those three albums, Tillman became one of the bigger music personalities. He's a freak-folk Kanye West, a bearded Taylor Swift. Like West and Swift, Tillman constantly infuses himself in the cultural conversation. Love them or hate them, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you're talking about them, and when you do, they win.

However, in the moments leading up to the release of "God's Favorite Customer," Tillman has stayed quiet. He hasn't taken to Twitter. He hasn't given interviews. He hasn't made jokes at the expense of music critics, Arcade Fire or Ryan Adams. Even the album notes are free of Tillman's sometimes overbearing personality. Now, Tillman is letting his music do the talking.

On "God's Favorite Customer," he's still in love but scared on songs like "Just Dumb Enough to Try" and "Please Don't Die." He's still being that goofball, but he's aware of its toll on his reality on "Mr. Tillman" and "Date Night." He's still tired of the constant barrage of content on "Disappointing Diamonds Are the Rarest Gems of Them All."

On the sparse, piano-led ballad "The Palace," Tillman sighs that he's in over his head. It's the sound of a talented, intelligent, tasteful man overwhelmed with his surroundings, be it small details or the larger frustrations he can't help but comment on.

Like all of Tillman's albums, "God's Favorite Customer" is mainly about love, and how that can be the answer. But here, he explores the flip side of that coin — how losing love can destroy the mind, body and heart.

When the material is as powerful and vulnerable as this, he doesn't need to do interviews or troll celebrities on Twitter to make his point. Honestly, it's better that he doesn't because this is his heart on a vinyl platter; this is his beautifully depressing masterpiece.

Article originally published online May 31 on theadvocate.com, and in the print edition of the Red entertainment section of The Advocate.