HENRY BELL is fascinated by the underlying curiosities and contradictions of one of the great poets of the Mediterranean
DAVID RENTON recommends a books that explores the ways in which disabled people are made to feel both of and not part of this world
JONATHAN TAYLOR is fascinated by the philosophical problems that permeate the art of life-writing
GORDON PARSONS steps warily in between the lines of Britain’s most famous diarist
SIMON DUFF recommends a recording of Arvo Part that takes the listener on a pilgrimage through seemingly distant times and events of the Bible
Father John Misty
Chloe and the Next 20th Century
(Bella Union)
★★★★
US singer-songwriter Josh Tillman’s work as Father John Misty is so idiosyncratic and audacious he feels like an increasingly polarising figure.
His fifth album is unlikely to win over naysayers, though his many fans, like me, will lap it up. Opener Chloe sets the scene, a strings-laden Great American Songbook-style ballad, with Tillman smoothly channelling Sinatra as he tells the surreal story of the titular character who is “a borough socialist.”
New releases from Madalitso Band, Gabriel da Rosa, and Femi Kuti
