- Record Label: Sub Pop
- Release Date: Apr 8, 2022
Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Apr 6, 2022Besides its flirtations with big band-style instrumentals, ‘Chloë and the Next 20th Century’ serves as a gorgeously crafted highlight reel of the singer’s many previous styles and guises, rather than a complete reinvention.
-
Apr 11, 2022He’s elusive even in the midst of taking on a new musical persona that seems high-concept. But it’s that combination of intriguing opacity and occasional open-heartedness — and his twin inclinations between deep philosophizing and deadpan comedy — that give “Chloë” the oddball breadth to be one of the best albums of the year.
-
Apr 8, 2022The moments on Chloë and the Next 20th Century that seem normal and traditional are executed so perfectly that you can’t fault Tillman for simply making a pop album of the highest order. But when the album delivers surprising, sometimes jarring episodes, it’s a reminder that Father John Misty is an important, unique, and undeniably brilliant artist.
-
Apr 6, 2022On ‘Chloë and the Next 20th Century’, Father John Misty is transporting himself to a different world; it sounds pretty damn sweet over there.
-
Apr 8, 2022It cements Tillman’s place among the best singer/songwriters around. It’s gorgeous. It’s heartbreaking. It’s timeless. It’s the sound of an artist who really went for it and succeeded wholeheartedly.
-
Apr 8, 2022The eleven tracks often sound like mini film scores, featuring arrangements by Drew Erickson and plenty of strings, brass and woodwinds. Tillman still deals in clever, allusive vignettes, but the tone is ultimately gentler this time around, hazier and less incisive than God’s or 2017’s Trump-era Pure Comedy.
-
Apr 7, 2022There are songs about lovers remaining strangers and dumbstruck fools falling for each other, and musically, it is sleek. The whole record carries a surprising confidence in regard to affection, survival, and making ends meet.
-
Mar 31, 2022The student has become a maestro. [Apr 2022, p.106]
-
Apr 12, 2022With Erickson’s arrangements augmenting his tales at every beat, they become immersive emotional explorations. Not every entry is gripping, and their mileage will depend on how much time you’re willing to settle in and let them wash over you, but overall it’s an impressively graceful skip into a new era for the songwriter.
-
Apr 8, 2022While this pastiche is obviously intentional, it never really feels like one. It also creates a much more romantic and intriguing world to fall into than the closed-curtains one of its predecessor. Josh Tillman remains a curious cat, but here he also sounds like a much more contented one.
-
Apr 7, 2022Fans who fell in love with Tillman's sharp social commentary will find plenty to hone in on, but the lush sounds take some of the bite out of his clever barbs and cynical perspectives on love and connection. Even with the strong, considered design of his previous albums, Father John Misty has never sounded so pleasant.
-
Apr 6, 2022The record is vast yet insular, and you cant help but get swept up by the show.
-
Apr 6, 2022Even though we’ve spent 10 songs becoming accustomed to Chloë’s milieu, Tillman upends that comfort on the 11th song. Ultimately, Chloë and the Next 20th Century signifies something larger. Father John Misty will always be interesting.
-
Apr 4, 2022Compared to Tillman’s previous releases as Father John Misty, Chloë and the Next 20th Century feels like an immense achievement musically, while not wholly dropping the cynical and whimsical elements of his songwriting.
-
MojoMar 31, 2022As Chloë And The Next 20th Century sees Father John Misty escaping into his parallel Hollywood reality, it's highly entertaining to slip in alongside him. [May 2022, p.90]
-
Mar 31, 2022The Next 20th Century contains a bunch of songs – “Goodbye Mr Blue”, “We Could Be Strangers”, “Buddy’s Rendezvous” – that go right to the gut with their instant melodic charm, and a bunch more – “Kiss Me (I Loved You)”, “Q4”, “Only A Fool”, “The Next 20th Century” – that are deeply striking a few listens later thanks to their sumptuous arrangements, exceptional playing and emotional pull. [May 2022, p.24]
-
Mar 31, 2022Sinking into Chloë and the Next 20th Century’s lush, sepia-toned arrangements, escaping with him is a pleasure.
-
Apr 8, 2022It can feel like Misty is in danger of spinning out, but for most of the album, what’s so impressive is the subtlety of his control. The band—including frequent collaborators Drew Erickson and Jonathan Wilson, plus a string quartet and eleven orchestra members—play with silvery poise and high drama. The characters may be odious and dissolute, but the way Misty sings about them is delightful.
-
Apr 8, 2022While Chloë and the Next 20th Century doesn’t quite measure up to the best of his impressive catalogue, lacking in some of the more unique traits that make those albums so special, even a slightly weaker Father John Misty album is still pretty damn good.
-
Apr 8, 2022Chloë takes many twists and turns around the movie set, pulling off the impossible feat of making sure its mellowness never grows tiresome.
-
Apr 4, 2022There’s the occasional curveball, such as the Latin shuffle of Olvidado (Otro Momento), but for most part the music hovers on an astral plane between speakeasy jazz and the later nexus of Dylan, Nilsson and Newman. The result is strangely timeless.
-
Apr 12, 2022It's opulent and immaculately composed but lacks the strong perspective that's usually central to FJM's work.
-
Apr 7, 2022Chlöe and the Next 20th Century is another shocking left-turn from indie-rock’s chief provocateur: a charming (huh?!), innocuous (gasp!) sojourn into lovely baroque-pop.
-
Apr 8, 2022For an album which so clearly sells itself as a capital C concept Album, the narrative is indecipherable; each track dropping a handful of new character names, and the final song seems to give up on it completely. Tillman is a fantastic songwriter, and so some of the new material is gold regardless.
-
Apr 6, 2022The album doesn’t possess the observational heft of 2017’s Pure Comedy, a post-apocalyptic survey of America’s anxieties and lamentable cultural habits. Rather, the narratives and wordplay found on Chloë and the Next 20th Century, while at times evocative given Tillman’s way with language, are comparatively toothless and too clever by half.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 25 out of 28
-
Mixed: 2 out of 28
-
Negative: 1 out of 28
-
Apr 8, 2022
-
Apr 8, 2022
-
Apr 8, 2022