Father John Misty has lifted the lid on his forthcoming fifth studio album, ‘Chloe And The Next 20th Century’, following a series of cryptic teasers he’d trickled out over the past few weeks. 

Unlike those teasers, however, the indie-rock stalwart (real name Josh Tillman) formally announced his next LP in a decidedly analogue format; his label, Bella Union, sent out a flexi-disc vinyl to a handful of fans on its mailing list. When recipients played the record, they were greeted by a spoken-word passage detailing ‘Chloe And The Next 20th Century’.

One fan who was sent the vinyl uploaded a video of themselves playing it to Reddit. Thanks to them, we know that ‘Chloe And The Next 20th Century’ will land on April 8, 2022 via Sub Pop and Bella Union. It’ll be available physically on vinyl, CD and cassette, as well as “in [a] beautiful deluxe hardback edition with expanded artwork and much more”.

The suave, pitched-down voice (presumably Tillman’s) continued: “Is this real? It is. This is the album. You’re listening to it right now. That’s nice. 11 new tracks produced by Jonathan Wilson and Josh Tillman. ‘Chloe And The Next 20th Century’. It’s technically new.

Check out the full video below:

Mysterious package received from Bella Union today, think you’ll be pleased! from fatherjohnmisty

Tillman last made waves in August of 2020 with the standalone tracks ‘To S.’ and ‘To R.’ (both of which came as part of the Sub Pop Singles Club). He’s kept relatively quiet since, bar his first few live shows since 2019 – a solo appearance at this year’s Sound Summit festival, then two back-to-back headliners on the Californian coast.

Tillman’s most recent full-length effort as Father John Misty was the 2018 album ‘God’s Favourite Customer’. In a four-star review, NME’s Robin Murray said: “It’s a record riddled with questions, while refusing to offer answers. In remaining tight-lipped, this taciturn new aspect to Father John Misty might be his most genuinely sincere, and his most profound.” 

2020 came with a surprise live album, ‘Off-Key In Hamburg’, which NME also gave a four-star review. In her write-up, Leonie Cooper called it “a sumptuous reminder of those big budget blow-out shows that will happen again one day, but not any time soon”. All proceeds from that release were donated to MusiCares’ COVID-19 relief fund.

Later in the year, Tillman released a four-track EP titled ‘Anthem + 3’. Comprised of two Leonard Cohen covers, plus takes on Link Wray’s ‘Fallin’ Rain’ and Yusuf’s ‘Trouble’, the EP served as another avenue for Tillman’s philanthropy; upon its initial release on his BandCamp page, the singer-songwriter funnelled its profits into charities CARE Action and Ground Game LA. 

Between 2018 and 2020, Tillman debuted at least four unreleased songs during live sets. One, debuted in December of ’18, saw him repeating the phrase “all God’s Country” in the chorus. Another featured sax and synths, with Tillman singing over them: “I guess time just makes fools of us all.” Soon thereafter came his unused song from A Star Is Born and the soaring ‘Tell It Like It Is’.