By Kourtney Gierke, Contributor

[Sub Pop; 2024]

Rating: 9/10

Key Tracks: “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All,” “She Cleans Up,” “Mahashmashana”

The highly anticipated Mahashmashana album from Father John Misty released November 22. It is difficult to out-do an already incredible discography of five albums spanning the past decade, yet FJM has done it. In only eight songs, he explores the spiritual, philosophic and introspective themes of life and death. His lyricism and composition of every track gets better as he heads in an orchestral indie-pop direction.

The title track and album opener “Mahashmashana” is a beautiful thesis of the entire album. Slow drums and an acoustic guitar meet an orchestra ensemble in this nearly ten minute song. The track also features a saxophone soloing throughout. Mahashmashana, meaning “great cremation ground,” symbolizes life and death through the relationship between a man and a woman. FJM sings, “Mahashmashana, all is silent / And in the next universal dawn / Won’t have to do the corpse dance, do the corpse dance / With these on” in each chorus. Overall, this piece is a great opener to the album.

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“Summers Gone” similarly explores the theme of life and death. FJM sings, “Against your will comes wisdom / And 40 more years left ahead / Wish it all away / The heat of the day / Until summer’s gone” in this bitter track. The instrumental sounds similar to Old Hollywood jazz, mirroring the inspiration of his last album, Chloe and the Next 20th Century. As shown in songs like “Summer’s Gone,” the old jazzy style works very well for his lyrics and style.

Released as a single, the punchy, distorted rock song “She Cleans Up” juxtaposes the rest of the album. Instead of slow melodic orchestral instruments, FJM leans into faster tempos and heavier basslines. This song is notably the most memorable off the album because of the new style that works extraordinarily for FJM. The only critique is that not enough of his songs sound this way.

“She Cleans Up” shines with lyrics “I know just how this thing ends / Sure your politics are perfect with the gun against your head / I know just how this thing ends / It’s a good thing God gave us someone on whom we can depend to clean up.” The song is a political statement about knowing how things always end up, with the repetition of “I know just how this thing ends.” Like the rest of the album, FJM’s lyrics are the best they’ve ever been.

“Mental Health” goes in a different direction, addressing authenticity and identity. With the melodic flute and percussion instruments, this track is almost other-wordly while FJM repeats “Mental health / mental health / no one knows you / but yourself.” On the other hand, “Josh Tillman and the Accidental Overdose” goes in a jazzier direction, starting with a catchy piano riff. The track, named after Father John Misty’s real name, is the most direct storytelling this album offers.

Because FJM released three distinctly sounding singles – the rock inspired “She Cleans Up,” the synth-fueled “Screamland” and the orchestral pop “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All” – the album appeared to head in an exploratory, multi-genre direction. Disappointingly, most of the other songs replicate each other. Although it is nice for a shorter album to have more cohesion (with the exception of She Cleans Up), the album is just short of perfect because of the repetitiveness.

Undeniably the best song off the album is “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All.” Released as one of the first singles, the song is vibrant and exciting. From metaphors about a rattlesnake selling him fame to dying in war, this track is peak FJM lyricism. The sound is the most interesting, combining saxophone solos with mid-song drum breaks. “I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All” is the strongest piece of the album, and without it, Mahashmashana would not be the album it is.

Overall, the album is cohesive while branching out to new genres and sounds. Mahashmashana is a powerful testament to Father John Misty’s musical and lyrical capabilities. FJM continues to evolve as an artist while pushing boundaries of the indie-pop genre, and created one masterpiece of an album in doing so.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/album/2oJHtuXrCJ0KMH5GrC6Qdw?si=MEiBAfBLRxO7K35jkcdhaQ