Josh Tillman was in Japan when he made a life changing decision: to quit as drummer of Fleet Foxes and finally pursue the sort of music he'd always wanted to make. His swan song came in Tokyo.
"I remember the gig was oddly unceremonious," he says. "Those experiences rarely deliver." Tillman feared obscurity beckoned: how wrong he was. He reinvented himself as singer-songwriter Father John Misty and returns to Japan next week as folk-rock's A-list errant provocateur, boasting three acclaimed albums, songwriting credits for Beyonce and Lady Gaga and, as of last month, a Grammy award.
His latest record, 2017's "Pure Comedy," peels away the layers of modern life. A 75-minute opus, its lush music slowly unfurls as Tillman empathetically dissects the human condition with sharp satire. That it aligned with the era of U.S. President Donald Trump seemed apposite. "But I'd be willing to bet that in 20 years' time the album will not be remembered as strictly an artifact of the year 2017. The timelessness of the themes will continue to unfold."