Father John Misty — Screamland
Album: MahashmashanaAvg rating:
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Total ratings: 371
Length: 6:17
Plays (last 30 days): 18
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The optimist
Swears hope dies last
And shoots the lamplight clean from the brakeman's hand
It's always the darkest right before the end
And you could say that no one here really believes
In the future, in perfection, that things aren't what they seem
Like a sucker with a scratcher, like a fuck-up with a dream
Stabbing at the ashtray like it might give up the truth
Like it might finally confess who else you're nearly faithful to
Stay young
Get numb
Keep dreaming
Screamland
Picked me up and drove by the light of the moon
Four hours to the desert from the drawing room
This year's wine tasted suspicious but just enough like love
God must be with the outcasts 'cause when I call, you come
And at this late hour
Won't have to beg mercy for defeat
Just drop your hands the way love taught you
Ash white and voodoo
Deathless as a weed
Since I lied to keep you, I'm starting to feel
Like how long can you love someone for the weakness they conceal
Stay young
Get numb
Keep dreaming
Screamland
Love must find a way, love must find a way
After every desperate measure, just a miracle will take
Love must find a way, ah, love must find a way
After every desperate measure, just a miracle will take
Roll the stone away, I want to go
Where everyone is perfect beneath their robes
Honey, take me down to the water's edge
Mama said that we could get my hip brace wet
Maybe we are living in a state of grace returned
Maybe faith like this has at least one practitioner
Rings up to the knuckles, sutures in the bath
Here lie the born losers, God won't take them back
Stay young
Get numb
Keep dreaming, oh
Screamland, oh
Keep dreaming, oh
Screamland
Screamland
Screamland, oh
Screamland, oh
Screamland, oh
Swears hope dies last
And shoots the lamplight clean from the brakeman's hand
It's always the darkest right before the end
And you could say that no one here really believes
In the future, in perfection, that things aren't what they seem
Like a sucker with a scratcher, like a fuck-up with a dream
Stabbing at the ashtray like it might give up the truth
Like it might finally confess who else you're nearly faithful to
Stay young
Get numb
Keep dreaming
Screamland
Picked me up and drove by the light of the moon
Four hours to the desert from the drawing room
This year's wine tasted suspicious but just enough like love
God must be with the outcasts 'cause when I call, you come
And at this late hour
Won't have to beg mercy for defeat
Just drop your hands the way love taught you
Ash white and voodoo
Deathless as a weed
Since I lied to keep you, I'm starting to feel
Like how long can you love someone for the weakness they conceal
Stay young
Get numb
Keep dreaming
Screamland
Love must find a way, love must find a way
After every desperate measure, just a miracle will take
Love must find a way, ah, love must find a way
After every desperate measure, just a miracle will take
Roll the stone away, I want to go
Where everyone is perfect beneath their robes
Honey, take me down to the water's edge
Mama said that we could get my hip brace wet
Maybe we are living in a state of grace returned
Maybe faith like this has at least one practitioner
Rings up to the knuckles, sutures in the bath
Here lie the born losers, God won't take them back
Stay young
Get numb
Keep dreaming, oh
Screamland, oh
Keep dreaming, oh
Screamland
Screamland
Screamland, oh
Screamland, oh
Screamland, oh
Comments (22)add comment
I've been playing this album relentlessly for a few days now - his best work since Pure Comedy. FJM is one of the very best and most interesting songwriters currently working.
...for a nihilistic view of society, consumerism, and politics.
Like that! It's far away off from senseless pop.
Like that! It's far away off from senseless pop.
So so so boring.
salice wrote:
The album was produced in Los Angeles by Tillman and Drew Erickson with frequent collaborator Jonathan Wilson acting as executive producer.
who produced this? got that Rick Rubin 'levels too high' thing going on
The album was produced in Los Angeles by Tillman and Drew Erickson with frequent collaborator Jonathan Wilson acting as executive producer.
William wrote:
I'm working on a filter algorithm to deal with this sort of thing. I've applied the first version to it currently & I think it sounds a lot better. But it still has a lot of nasty going on.
As part of the development process on the filter, using this song as a worst-case test, I've heard the song a lot.
I've decided that this is an order of magnitude better than anything FJM has ever done. It's a magnificent song. I'll keep trying to render it as listenable as possible, and I'll keep my eye out for remixes/etc that almost certainly won't incorporate that particular processing choice.
Stay tuned!
It is a good song, but I think the main production issue is that compression when the bass drum hits in the chorus. Like they sidechained the drum into the synth pad just way too much or something. I’m certainly not an expert on music production, but my ears are pretty good, and it just sounds like that heavy kick just makes everything else muddy when it hits. I’m not sure the best way to fix that, but I’m certain it would help you a great deal if you had the tracks separated so that you could balance out the tracks individually. You might not get FJM to send you the individual tracks but we are fortunate enough to live in an amazing time where we now have tools that can separate a piece of music into individual stems. I gather from some of your remarks that you’re probably not a huge fan of AI, and in many aspects I’m right there with you—I much prefer your curated playlists over some Spotify algorithm, and there are plenty of problematic issues surrounding AI-generated music and artwork—but used in the right way, it can be an extremely powerful tool. I was recently given a live recording on cassette tape of a recording on which my late grandfather played guitar with his jazz band over 30 years ago, and was asked to convert it to a digital format so it could be played at a large family gathering. At first I ran the recording through an EQ and noise filter to make the mix sound better, but then I decided to use Moises, an AI production tool, to separate the individual instruments so that I could EQ and compress them individually, and I was sincerely blown away by the results. The software was able to separate drums, saxophone, guitar, bass and vocals from a 30-year-old cassette recording that had a fair amount of background noise, since it was apparently recorded on a cassette deck by someone in the audience. Not only was I able to hear my grandpa’s guitar isolated from the audience noise and the other instrument but I was also able to eliminate most of the background noise, and properly equalize each instrument separately and create an amazing remastering of the recording, something that simply was not possible a few years ago.
Of course, this FJM track wouldn’t need nearly as much finessing as my grandpa’s 30-year-old live performance, but some of these kinds of tools might be very useful in your attempts to create a better mix of this song.
And as a faithful RP listener of about 20 years, THANK YOU so much for saving me from the horrors of FM commercial radio and The Algorithms!
I'm working on a filter algorithm to deal with this sort of thing. I've applied the first version to it currently & I think it sounds a lot better. But it still has a lot of nasty going on.
As part of the development process on the filter, using this song as a worst-case test, I've heard the song a lot.
I've decided that this is an order of magnitude better than anything FJM has ever done. It's a magnificent song. I'll keep trying to render it as listenable as possible, and I'll keep my eye out for remixes/etc that almost certainly won't incorporate that particular processing choice.
Stay tuned!
It is a good song, but I think the main production issue is that compression when the bass drum hits in the chorus. Like they sidechained the drum into the synth pad just way too much or something. I’m certainly not an expert on music production, but my ears are pretty good, and it just sounds like that heavy kick just makes everything else muddy when it hits. I’m not sure the best way to fix that, but I’m certain it would help you a great deal if you had the tracks separated so that you could balance out the tracks individually. You might not get FJM to send you the individual tracks but we are fortunate enough to live in an amazing time where we now have tools that can separate a piece of music into individual stems. I gather from some of your remarks that you’re probably not a huge fan of AI, and in many aspects I’m right there with you—I much prefer your curated playlists over some Spotify algorithm, and there are plenty of problematic issues surrounding AI-generated music and artwork—but used in the right way, it can be an extremely powerful tool. I was recently given a live recording on cassette tape of a recording on which my late grandfather played guitar with his jazz band over 30 years ago, and was asked to convert it to a digital format so it could be played at a large family gathering. At first I ran the recording through an EQ and noise filter to make the mix sound better, but then I decided to use Moises, an AI production tool, to separate the individual instruments so that I could EQ and compress them individually, and I was sincerely blown away by the results. The software was able to separate drums, saxophone, guitar, bass and vocals from a 30-year-old cassette recording that had a fair amount of background noise, since it was apparently recorded on a cassette deck by someone in the audience. Not only was I able to hear my grandpa’s guitar isolated from the audience noise and the other instrument but I was also able to eliminate most of the background noise, and properly equalize each instrument separately and create an amazing remastering of the recording, something that simply was not possible a few years ago.
Of course, this FJM track wouldn’t need nearly as much finessing as my grandpa’s 30-year-old live performance, but some of these kinds of tools might be very useful in your attempts to create a better mix of this song.
And as a faithful RP listener of about 20 years, THANK YOU so much for saving me from the horrors of FM commercial radio and The Algorithms!
Whoever mixed the chorus on this needs to have their ears cleaned. Sounds like a high-end mix-mash of noise. Too bad -- almost a good song.
(Listening through M Audio studio monitors & Sony 12" sub woofer)
(Listening through M Audio studio monitors & Sony 12" sub woofer)
salice wrote:
Nope.
The album was produced in Los Angeles by Tillman and Drew Erickson with frequent collaborator Jonathan Wilson acting as executive producer.
who produced this? got that Rick Rubin 'levels too high' thing going on
Nope.
The album was produced in Los Angeles by Tillman and Drew Erickson with frequent collaborator Jonathan Wilson acting as executive producer.
mrselfdestruct wrote:
"wonder what this Compression dial does?"
"don't know, put it on 11 and lets see..."
Yikes! The chorus sounds awful through my speakers.
"wonder what this Compression dial does?"
"don't know, put it on 11 and lets see..."
mrselfdestruct wrote:
It's Screamland, dude
Yikes! The chorus sounds awful through my speakers.
It's Screamland, dude
salice wrote:
It was the "Ours go to eleven" guy from Spinal Tap. ; )
who produced this? got that Rick Rubin 'levels too high' thing going on
It was the "Ours go to eleven" guy from Spinal Tap. ; )
DrLex wrote:
I'm working on a filter algorithm to deal with this sort of thing. I've applied the first version to it currently & I think it sounds a lot better. But it still has a lot of nasty going on.
As part of the development process on the filter, using this song as a worst-case test, I've heard the song a lot.
I've decided that this is an order of magnitude better than anything FJM has ever done. It's a magnificent song. I'll keep trying to render it as listenable as possible, and I'll keep my eye out for remixes/etc that almost certainly won't incorporate that particular processing choice.
Stay tuned!
I guess the brickwalled chorus is intentional and maybe it is supposed to fit the ‘Screamland’ title, but I'm not digging it. Too bad because the rest of the song is very nice.
I'm working on a filter algorithm to deal with this sort of thing. I've applied the first version to it currently & I think it sounds a lot better. But it still has a lot of nasty going on.
As part of the development process on the filter, using this song as a worst-case test, I've heard the song a lot.
I've decided that this is an order of magnitude better than anything FJM has ever done. It's a magnificent song. I'll keep trying to render it as listenable as possible, and I'll keep my eye out for remixes/etc that almost certainly won't incorporate that particular processing choice.
Stay tuned!
Can confirm the chorus does sound better on better speakers.
There is a scene in the movie “Once” when after they are done recording and mixing of the album, they drive to the shore and listen to the album on the car speakers. The producer says they do this with every album.
The chorus sounds awful on my factory installed car speakers, but great on my desktop studio monitor quality speakers. I suspect they liked the way the song sounded on the studio monitor speakers so much they refused to do a car speakers test.
There is a scene in the movie “Once” when after they are done recording and mixing of the album, they drive to the shore and listen to the album on the car speakers. The producer says they do this with every album.
The chorus sounds awful on my factory installed car speakers, but great on my desktop studio monitor quality speakers. I suspect they liked the way the song sounded on the studio monitor speakers so much they refused to do a car speakers test.
Painfully bombastic.
I guess the brickwalled chorus is intentional and maybe it is supposed to fit the ‘Screamland’ title, but I'm not digging it. Too bad because the rest of the song is very nice.
mrselfdestruct wrote:
Get better speakers, maybe?
Yikes! The chorus sounds awful through my speakers.
Get better speakers, maybe?
Yikes! The chorus sounds awful through my speakers.
Had the potential to be a beautiful song - then the horrible production/mixing. Why?!
This is terrible.
who produced this? got that Rick Rubin 'levels too high' thing going on
Pulled the lyrics from the youtube page, I'm with you William, not a fan of the way the lyrics sound in the chorus, but good tune for me too.
Thank you,
LLRP
Thank you,
LLRP
That was lovely... right up to the bridge. The producer needs a bat up their night-dress!
Bill referenced a technique in this recording that he hated. I didn't really notice it. I DID notice a different style than what I'm familiar with from FJM.