"Lush songs of love and madness" Rolling Stone Magazine
“It wows the listener outright, swerving confidently around genres and eras, piano balladry and perverse synths, throwing in grandiose string arrangements and enough lyrical grist to keep listeners milling well into 2015.” Kitty Empire, The Observer
“It’s hard to tell where Joshua Tillman ends and his alias Father John Misty begins – but perhaps it doesn’t matter when the songs sound this good” Alexis Petridis, the Guardian
Father John Misty on I Love You, Honeybear:
“There’s a case to be made that it sounds and acts a bit like Scott Walker, Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, and Dory Previn. Blammo. The songs are a narration of my experience falling in love, which means different things to different people, but which I found incredibly inspiring, personally and creatively …
This is a fairly experimental record, in that, I “experimented” with several different approaches for each song (which is part of why it took so long to record) even though the arrangements and styling are fairly classic. Taking a larger producer role this time around gave me license to indulge no small degree of ambivalence and uncertainty. This material demanded from me a new way of being made, and it took a lot of time before that revealed itself. I believe we found a way to make something that is meticulous but natural, dense but still sounds spacious.”
“Oh, the songwriting! Every arrangement is perfect for the melody, and every melody sticks: together they’re perfect. 5/5” The Guardian