Photo by Philip Cosores
Just days removed from his new album Pure Comedy and an impressive set at Coachella, Father John Misty is back with more music. The oddball songwriter is featured on the Mondo Boys’ score to Eddie O’Keefe’s Shangri-La Suite, which the group has just released as a 30-minute mixtape. On it is Father John Misty’s cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Who Loves the Sun” from the band’s 1970 album Loaded. We’re looking forward to hearing Lou Reed’s take after he visits another of Josh Tillman’s dreams. Listen to the full mixtape below (FJM’s song kicks off at 2:59).
In an email to Pitchfork, Mondo Boys provided some insight into their recording session with both Father John Misty and Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado, who also contributed to the soundtrack. They had just “one night with Father John Misty and one afternoon with Jonathan Rado to get these vocals done.” Here’s what they had to say about working with Tillman:
“Josh Tillman came in during the bottleneck of the score on a Saturday night. He showed up in sunglasses and did the first few takes great. It could have just stopped there but we wanted to try a few takes ‘going too far’ just to see what would happen. We ended up reworking the track on the fly to fit Josh’s voice, so the backing vocals and backing music were pitched up, giving it a touch of that chipmunk sound. Josh was really into it and said something like ‘I know you guys are going to try to fix that, but it’s really cool’ and encouraged us to leave it. We re-recorded the backing music but left those pitched vocals in the final version in the film. Afterward he treated us to an exclusive Honeybear listening party in his rental car (this was just prior to its release).”
That’s not all Tillman’s been up to. A new tourism ad from Discover L.A. features Father John Misty’s “Real Love Baby”, with the group’s creative director telling Billboard that Tillman is “a local artist who is as passionate about our great city as we are.”
Bacharach continues, “Real Love Baby” was a perfect choice to set the tone and vibe for our film,” with an “upbeat, positive, sunny California feel that reflects our message and our city.” Tillman, he says, “believed in the message celebrating L.A.’s diversity and inclusivity, and extending a warm welcome to everyone around the world.”
The ad is titled “#EveryoneIsWelcome” and you can watch it below.
