During his current tour, Father John Misty has been performing a new song called “Mr. Tillman” (named after himself, Josh Tillman), and a full video of the track finally popped up online a few days ago. Perhaps as a reaction to that, or perhaps instead by coincidence, Tillman has now shared the studio recording of the song, and if you’re listening on YouTube and stick around until the end, there’s a surprise for you.
The YouTube clip for the song, uploaded to Father John Misty’s own channel, is titled “Father John Misty – ‘Mr. Tillman’ [Official Audio].” In spite of that, the video actually contains a secret short music video that features Tillman wandering around and dancing in front of green screen stock images of various parts of a hotel. This lines up with the lyrical theme of the song, which focuses on Tillman having some trouble checking into a hotel, which leads to some frustration. The track also includes a nod to Jason Isbell: “And oh, will you need a driver out to Philly / Jason Isbell’s here, as well / And he seemed a little worried about you.”
The song appears to be a taste of Father John Misty’s next album: He previously spoke about a new record due out in 2018, and shared that one of the new song’s titles is “Mr. Tillman, Please Exit The Lobby.” He said of the album:
“Most of this next album was written in a six-week period where I was kind of on the straits. I was living in a hotel for two months. It’s kind of about… yeah… misadventure. The words were just pouring out of me. It’s really rooted in something that happened last year that was… well, my life blew up. I think the music essentially serves the purpose of making the painful and the isolating less painful and less isolating. But in short, it’s a heartache album.”
Listen to “Mr. Tillman” above.
