The Bard stands with the Reformers of Peterloo, and their shared genius in teaching history with music and song
Album review with Ian Sinclair: March 16, 2022
New releases from Father John Misty, Let’s Eat Grandma and Brad Mehldau
SUE TURNER is fascinated by a book that researches who the largely immigrant workforce were that built the Empire State
MARIA DUARTE and MALC McGOOKIN review Sirat, The Testament of Ann Lee, EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert, and All You Need Is Kill
STEVE ANDREW recommends a Marxist analysis of the long chains of production that global corporations exploit
MARY CONWAY relishes the period detail but misses the drama in this unsatisfactory dramatisation of the subjugated life of George Eliot
IAN SINCLAIR welcomes a mainstream scholar to the ranks of left-wing critique of US foreign policy
PETER MASON is disappointed that the eponymous Count fails to put in an appearance
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.”
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