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BEATS OF LOVE

24. Strange Encounter by Father John Misty

TODAY WOULD'VE been my brother-in-law's birthday, and it's the first my sister and nephew have had to endure in his absence. Beats of Love are just a bit of catharsis following his sudden death. There was so much left unsaid, and words on the subject are still extremely difficult. Despite experiencing the premature loss of my own father, I have been unable to find any significant words of consolation. This LP, the first and only LP my nephew has bought me, was ordered for my birthday in 2020, but bizarrely only arrived months later on the very day his father died. 

It was the perfect escape hatch for my own grief, but I was reticent to play it without firstly doing a bit of leg-work. Worryingly, nobody I know digs this guy, whose reincarnation is a little too hipster for my natural bent. More worrying was the saccharine art-work that just didn't feel exciting to hold. Then the songs played on the stereo and sounded too trite. Not the updated Pet Sounds I was promised.

I was absolutely desperate to connect and luckily, when songs were fast running out, the needle hit the groove on this. I recall Richard Ashcroft being scared that chart success exposed his music to little kids, explaining that 'there is a loss of innocence in our music that I don't want them to hear.' * Thankfully, my nephew is now an adult. This song has clarified the fact.

Evoking Plush's mighty Fed LP in its musical ambition and to my ears at least the Wild Honey era Beach Boys, as favoured by Jim Morrison, in its casual, soulful feel, it both soars and touches my very being.

Sure, it's a little over-layered and self-consciously retro, but the harmonies actually crystallize into something pretty epic and moving. One-night stands can be pretty epic and moving. Or comic.

I still find words on the subject extremely difficult, but when this spins, I just know that, on some metaphysical level at least, enjoying a shared love of music, I'm where I need to be. With my sister, nephew, and brother-in-law.     

•  Face magazine volume 3, number 8