Father John Misty’s Pure Comedy is a sprawling, sharply focused statement that balances satire, vulnerability and orchestral ambition. The third album from Josh Tillman’s long-running project turns its gaze outward, picking apart the absurdities of modern life while remaining grounded in classic songwriting craft. Across its length, Pure Comedy wrestles with big ideas - belief, identity, love, culture and self-delusion - delivered with a mix of dry humour and disarming sincerity. Tillman’s writing is at once grand and intimate, skewering humanity’s talent for self-mythologising while acknowledging the fragile emotional bonds that hold it together. The result is an album that feels both caustic and compassionate, unafraid to sit with contradiction. Musically, the record leans into lush, widescreen arrangements that draw on traditions of American song without lapsing into nostalgia. Piano-led compositions, sweeping strings and measured dynamics give the lyrics space to breathe, allowing the wit and melancholy to land with equal force. Recorded at United Studios in Hollywood, Pure Comedy was produced by Father John Misty alongside Jonathan Wilson, with engineering by Trevor Spencer and orchestral arrangements by Gavin Bryars, adding a sense of scale that underlines the album’s ambition.