Father John Misty has just released a new video for his single “Total Entertainment Forever,” off his recent album Pure Comedy.
In short, the video is a must-see. It begins with George Washington popping a bunch of Viagra before slipping on a virtual reality headset and into a bizarre world where Macaulay Culkin is Kurt Cobain. The entire video is set in a world that looks like it’s designed by a child, complete with paper mache and colorful drawings. The song progresses as Culkin/Cobain is flogged by a group of men dressed like Ronald McDonald and bound by them. Father John Misty makes his appearance in the video as an especially angry Ronald McDonald villain, who has a tiny, paper mache, also angry Ronald McDonald burst from his stomach. The group then crucifies Culkin next to Jon from Garfield and a saxophone-playing Bill Clinton. All while this is happening; poor George Washington’s virtual reality system is short-circuiting, and it fries him to death at the end of the song. Sound like we’re making this up? Watch for yourself, below.
A collective known as Four Gods and a Baby, comprised of Adam Green, Culkin, Thomas Bayne and Toby Goodshank, who all appear in the video as the Ronald McDonald villains, directed the video.
Father John Misty, whose real name is Josh Tillman, made a career among bands like Fleet Foxes and Saxon Shore before beginning his solo career in 2012. Tillman has stated before that he micro-doses on LSD in order to self-medicate his depression and anxiety, and is known for involved lyrics about the state of the world and modern entertainment.
His recent album, Pure Comedy, is his third solo album, released via Bella Union in the UK and Europe and through Sub Pop everywhere else. In an essay included with the announcement email to his fan club, Tillman described the album as “the story of a species born with a half-formed brain. The species’ only hope for survival, finding itself on a cruel, unpredictable rock surrounded by other species who seem far more adept at this whole thing (and to whom they are delicious), is the reliance on other, slightly older, half-formed brains.”
Shortly after the album announcement, Tillman also released a 25-minute short film, titled Pure Comedy: The Film, which depicts the writing and live tracking process for the album.
Read our review on Pure Comedy, and be sure to also listen to the radio edit of “Leaving L.A.,” another single off of the album.
Photo Credit: Sharon Alagna
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