Is Love Just an Institution?: Ten Years Since Father John Misty’s I Love You, Honeybear.

This Valentine’s Day, Father John Misty marks a decade since the release of his 2015 sophomore album I Love You, Honeybear with a remastered reissue, which will include his acoustic cover of Nirvana’s ‘Heart-Shaped Box’. In 2012, the release of his first album, Fear Fun, marked the beginning of Josh Tillman’s career as ‘Father John Misty’ following his decision to leave the folk band Fleet Foxes in search of his own voice. The album was a success, but as he began working on a follow-up, his writing became impacted by a most sudden and unexpected event: falling in love.

Father John Misty began as a satirical character created by Tillman, a voice ripe with cynicism, setting out to subvert the industry as well as challenge his own ego. However, he denies the idea of a persona, as well as complete authenticity in his writing, asserting, “all of my music exists in the middle”. There is an undeniable element of self-awareness in the way that ‘Josh Tillman’ is referred to in his canon as a separate identity, for example, in the track ‘The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt.’ on Honeybear, which plays on the idea of relationships in the public eye. In fact, in his description of the album, Tillman describes “I Love You, Honeybear is a concept album about a guy named Josh Tillman who spends quite a bit of time banging his head against walls, cultivating weak ties with strangers and generally avoiding intimacy at all costs.” That is until, of course, Josh Tillman meets Emma Garr.

what makes Honeybear completely unique as a love story as we hear a voice trying to navigate not only what it means to fall in love as a cynic, but also how to merge his satirical character with sincerity.

Tillman met his wife in the parking lot of the Laurel Canyon Country Store- the very same place Jim Morrison called ‘Love Street’. This was, naturally, set to have an indelible effect on his work- “I had discovered my “true self” and a fixed identity which catered to my ego and pain […] Then I fell in love with a stranger in a parking lot. What the fuck was I supposed to write about then? Kissing in the rain?”. Tillman has expressed an allergy to ‘sentimentality’ in songwriting, which is what makes Honeybear completely unique as a love story as we hear a voice trying to navigate not only what it means to fall in love as a cynic, but also how to merge his satirical character with sincerity.

The tracks on the album that were conceived before meeting his wife, such as ‘Strange Encounter’ and ‘The Ideal Husband’, echo the character of ‘The Ladies’ Man’ we were previously acquainted with. Tillman is self-deprecating, telling of his own faults as a lover and confronting them with a wry smile. He recalls a turning point in the making of the album during a conversation with Emma, who told him, “You just can’t be afraid to let these songs be beautiful”.

On the title track, we see how Tillman begins to blend his usual cynicism about the rest of the world with the new hope and refuge brought by love. Considering he admits that he has never actually called anyone ‘Honeybear’, the song provides an exaggerated depiction of a couple in love, setting the tone for an album that maintains a disregard for sentimentality.

The re-release of I Love You, Honeybear this February 14th serves as a reminder that even through the eyes of a sceptic, love will always be the most fundamental and true source of inspiration to the act of creation.

‘Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)’ opens with Emma’s name (“Emma eats bread and butter/Like a queen would have ostrich and cobra wine”) and plays on first experiences in love with someone who truly understands you. The memorable title may be drawing on references to Leonard Cohen’s ‘Chelsea Hotel #2’, as well as John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s ‘Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins’.

The track on the album most closely resembling a ‘traditional’ love song has to be ‘When You’re Smiling and Astride Me’ which speaks to a love of unconditional acceptance while maintaining Tillman’s usual tone of brutal honesty. He is careful, however, to disclaim that his personal experiences are not a ‘prescription’ for relationships, which makes the album decidedly ‘not sentimental’ in his opinion. Finally, Honeybear concludes with ‘I Went to the Store One Day’, which of course alludes to the meeting between the two, with the closing lyric being the first words exchanged between them- “I’ve seen you around, what’s your name?”.

On ‘Holy Shit’, Tillman sings, as though into the void, “Love is just an institution based on human frailty”. Ten years later, we might consider the ability of love to permanently alter our worldview and art- something we see in the string of sentimentality that continues to weave its way through the satire of Father John Misty. The re-release of I Love You, Honeybear this February 14th serves as a reminder that even through the eyes of a sceptic, love will always be the most fundamental and true source of inspiration to the act of creation.

Recommended listening: ‘Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins)’, ‘The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apt’

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