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ADM Chart topper

I Love You, Honeybear

Father John Misty

I Love You, Honeybear

Second studio album under this moniker from the Baltimore-born singer-songwriter, guitarist and former Fleet Foxes drummer J.Tillman

ADM rating[?]

8.5

Label
Bella Union / Sub Pop
UK Release date
09/02/2015
US Release date
10/02/2015
  1. 10.0 |   NOW

    Tillman's vocals, which range from howlin' to soulful, are his strongest yet
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  2. 10.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Perhaps it’s Father John Misty as an antidote to the American dream that makes ‘I Love You, Honeybear’ such a compelling and addictive listen
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  3. 10.0 |   State

    An insightful, reflective and altogether very human record from a truly authentic artist
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  4. 10.0 |   The Guardian

    However complex and torturous the thinking behind the lyrics gets, there’s an effortless ease about the tunes that bear them
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  5. 10.0 |   Exclaim

    The themes are universal, yet its subject matter and ways in which the album executed are deeply personal, making this a truly resonant record
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  6. 10.0 |   The Irish Times

    A modern classic
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  7. 9.5 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    A messy, extravagant, astonishing, beguiling and honest experience: that’s love, and that’s also what I Love You, Honeybear is. Just magnificent
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  8. 9.1 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Over its 45 beautiful but tortured minutes, I Love You, Honeybear weaves a complicated narrative of love gained at the expense of the individual
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  9. 9.1 |   A.V. Club

    There are slices of country rock, gospel, Laurel Canyon folk, and R&B that gracefully blend together. From the music alone, the album is immaculately rendered
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  10. 9.0 |   All Music

    As powerful a statement about love in the vacuous, social media-obsessed early 21st century as it is a denouement of the detached hipster charlatan
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  11. 9.0 |   No Ripcord

    Tillman becomes one of the great diarists of our generation in Honeybear, possessing a keen, merciless intelligence within a sophisticated melodic sensibility
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  12. 9.0 |   Spin

    Littered with carefully wired bombs meant to blow up in the face of those seeking straightforward love songs
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  13. 9.0 |   Earbuddy

    His music is bolder, but it doesn’t get in the way of his voice; only enhancing it and making his songs more interesting
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  14. 9.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Pinwheels between an honest, bruised tenderness and worldweary cynicism, but never in that yawnsomely earnest way you all too often find when singer-songwriters use their material to present and fillet their own relationships
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  15. 9.0 |   Slant Magazine

    It's a rare fulfillment of outsized ambition and a crystallization of Tillman's inimitable narrative verve, however unreliable his narrator may be
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  16. 9.0 |   NME

    Written around the time Tillman got hitched to this girlfriend, it's a hugely ambitious, caustically funny album about the redemptive possibilities of love, and being heartily sick of your own bullshit
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  17. 9.0 |   musicOMH

    Josh Tillman has slowly turned into one of the most talented songwriters of our age
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  18. 9.0 |   FasterLouder

    The strength of his lyrics is just one reason why the album is too smart to pick through all at once and demands multiple listens and its listener’s full attention
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  19. 8.8 |   Pitchfork

    For all his poetic undercurrents, Tillman is a showman that way: He knows how to get his message across in a form people can clap to
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  20. 8.6 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    Love is never a Hallmark card. I Love You, Honeybear makes you glad it isn’t
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  21. 8.3 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    It’s a little too steeped in irony, not without tenderness, flippant but consternated, self-satisfied yet hungry for more, eager to expose the world’s duplicities alongside its own and then do nothing about it
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  22. 8.2 |   Paste Magazine

    Tillman will probably always write with a wink—but he’s learning to infuse that approach with genuine heart
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  23. 8.0 |   Clash

    '...Honeybear' is easily a masterpiece and already one of the best albums of 2015
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  24. 8.0 |   Under The Radar

    Like a great actor, Father John Misty can take the listener from laughter to tears in an instant
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  25. 8.0 |   Time Out

    It overflows, like a hurriedly packed suitcase, with anti-love lyrics – hedonistic misadventures, confessions of narcissism and neglect, and put-downs as delicious as they are vicious
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  26. 8.0 |   The Skinny

    Tillman picks and chooses from the archives of US musical history, borrowing a country twang, nervous ‘80s electronica or a sun-drenched West Coast vibe to storytell as it suits him
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  27. 8.0 |   DIY

    ‘I Love You, Honeybear’ finds Tillman falling face first into perhaps the most expected of musical tropes: the “mature” sophomore release. Thankfully, he’s on track to age with grace
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  28. 8.0 |   Rolling Stone

    An autobiographical set about love, marriage and derangement that's both ironic and empathic
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  29. 8.0 |   The Digital Fix

    So confident for a second album, I Love you, Honeybear is a fascinating, enthralling experience
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  30. 8.0 |   The Observer

    An album that reaffirms your faith in the transformative powers of love
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  31. 8.0 |   The FT

    Mellow 1970s rock and toned down honky tonk provide background to the album’s autobiographical songs
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  32. 8.0 |   Uncut

    The album bristles with richness and bespoke detail
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  33. 8.0 |   Q

    For its black lyrical humour alone, I Love You, Honeybear would be a winner. The fact that it's matched to towering songwriting makes it masterful stuff. Print edition only

  34. 8.0 |   Mojo

    Close to his old self again, without doing away with his tasteful new blend of shaman and showman. Print edition only

  35. 8.0 |   The 405

    Ultimately, Tillman utilizes a familiar, but perfectly executed, take on the folk-rock idiom to highlight the tensions within him
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  36. 7.0 |   The Music

    A collection of baroque, literate pop songs that reveal new layers of sonic and lyrical detail on each listen
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  37. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    Like its overall theme of love, Honeybear can be as intoxicating as it is messy. And given the rewards, totally worth the plunge
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  38. 7.0 |   Beardfood

    Every word or feeling gets debunked; combined with a slight lack of dynamics and melody it can be a drag
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  39. 4.0 |   The Arts Desk

    Arch, often meandering and stilted, I Love You, Honeybear is hard to warm to. Subscription required
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Father John Misty: I Love You, Honeybear

  • Download full album for just £9.49
  • 1. I Love You, Honeybear £0.99
  • 2. Chateau Lobby #4 (in C for Two Virgins) £0.99
  • 3. True Affection £0.99
  • 4. The Night Josh Tillman Came To Our Apt. £0.99
  • 5. When You're Smiling and Astride Me £0.99
  • 6. Nothing Good Ever Happens At The Goddamn Thirsty Crow £0.99
  • 7. Strange Encounter £0.99
  • 8. The Ideal Husband £0.99
  • 9. Bored in the USA £0.99
  • 10. Holy Shit £0.99
  • 11. I Went To The Store One Day £0.99
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