"I Love You, Honeybear" an Enchanting Tribute

The album artwork on “I Love You, Honeybear,” the newest release by Father John Misty is trippy, to say the least. Showcasing a multicolored nativity scene in what appears to be an abstract jungle, the cover art is not exactly what one may expect from an album of love songs. Then again, “I Love You, Honeybear,” is unexpected in many ways—from its format as a concept album to its display of an as-of-yet unseen side of Joshua Tillman, the man otherwise known as indie-folk-rocker Father John Misty.“I Love You, Honeybear,” Tillman’s second studio album as FJM, listens like an open, enchanted, and quickly disillusioned love letter to his wife.

For the most part, “I Love You, Honeybear” presents a genuine and vulnerable Tillman. Gone are the upbeat rhythms and thick instrumentation of “Fear Fun,” his first LP as Father John Misty. Instead, the listener is left with Tillman’s unbroken vocals supported by subtle drum and guitar lines. While “I Love You, Honeybear” tugs at the heartstrings,  it’s hard to believe the album is anything but sincere after listening to Tillman’s pained and impassioned singing,

Like any love letter (and any album with the word “Honeybear” in its title), “I Love You, Honeybear” runs the risk of sounding sappy, and at times Misty does resort to platitudes. His repeated crooning of “I love you” in the album’s first track turns a bit mawkish, and lines like, “Oh my God, I swear this never happens” on “The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment” sound trite.

But certain tracks display Misty’s emotion with brutal honesty and abandon all the love letter euphemisms and mushiness that make songs like “The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment” almost forgettable. In “Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow,”he proudly declares that his lover “gets down more often than a blow-up doll.” The artist couples his odd braggadocio with sentiments like, “I just love the kind of woman who can walk all over a man,” which show Misty at his happiest and most exposed. Vulgar or helpless as they make Tillman seem, these lyrics create a sense of authenticity that saves “I Love You, Honeybear” from the doom of cliché.

Musically, the album’s vocals are by far its greatest strength. It’s impossible to get tired of Tillman’s smooth voice, and this LP aptly showcases his wistful singing. “I Love You, Honeybear” contains both moments when his tenor trembles softly, as on the touching “True Affection,” and moments when it cracks with passion, as on the fervent “The Ideal Husband,” making this the kind of album that can easily be listened to three times in a row. Though the instrumentation on “I Love You, Honeybear” certainly does not have as strong of a presence as it did on Tillman’s previous album, the simple guitars and percussion effectively fade into the background, allowing for a more prominent and purposeful expression of his voice.

All enchanted love affairs must come to an end, however, and Father John Misty’s is no exception. The album devolves beautifully into Misty’s disillusionment with American consumerism and corporate culture, which he blames for destroying the simplicity of his passion. In “Bored in the USA,”the album’s lead single, he sneers at a “subprime loan/ On a craftsman home”—the kind of sardonic political statement that makes the album much more than just another collection of love songs. Despite his disillusionment, he keeps hoping for a return to simpler times: “Let’s buy a plantation house and let the yard grow wild,” he begs in “I Went to the Store One Day.” And with that, “I Love You, Honeybear” defines itself as a complex and moving concept album, one that provides a glimpse into the mind of a Father John Misty who is more lovestruck and dissatisfied than ever before.