On April 7, 2017, “Bella Union” label released “Pure Comedy”, the third Josh Tillman album, under his pseudonym Father John Misty. It was recorded in March 2016 at “United Recording Studios” in Los Angeles, and was produced by Jonathan Wilson and Josh Tillman. In its choice of the “100 Best Albums of the Year”, “The Sunday Times” ranked “Pure Comedy” at number one.

Personnel:

• Josh Tillman– vocals, horn and vocal arrangement, mixing, art direction
• Jonathan Wilson– performance, mixing
• Thomas Bartlett, Elijah Thomson, Daniel Bailey, Keefus Ciancia, Kyle Flynn – performance
• Gavin Bryars– horn arrangement
• James King– horn arrangement
• Paul Jacob Cartwright, Tom Lea, Nico Muhly– string arrangement
• Gavin Bryars – string arrangement, vibraphone
• Chavonne Stewart – vocal arrangement, additional vocals
• George Potts Young, De’Ante Duckett, Ryan Stewart, Tiffanie Cross, Vanessa Grundy, Shanika Bereal, Celeste Young, Dominique Dubose – additional vocals
• Greg Leisz– pedal steel, lap steel
• Kelsey Lu – cello
• Trevor Spencer – mixing, engineering
• Vira Byramji, Dave Cerminara, Rouble Kapoor, Bryce Gonzales – additional engineering
• Bob Ludwig– mastering
• Ed Steed – illustrations, art direction
• Sasha Barr – art direction, additional art, designs

Track listing:

All tracks by Josh Tillman.

1. Pure Comedy
2. Total Entertainment Forever
3. Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution
4. Ballad of the Dying Man
5. Birdie
6. Leaving LA
7. A Bigger Paper Bag
8. When the God of Love Returns There’ll Be Hell to Pay
9. Smoochie
10. Two Wildly Different Perspectives
11. The Memo
12. So I’m Growing Old on Magic Mountain
13. In Twenty Years or So