Real Love Baby
Father John Misty
"Real Love Baby" by Father John Misty is the rare thing: a love song with no irony in it, written by a man whose entire artistic identity is built on irony, which gives it a disorienting and completely sincere power. The production reaches back to early 1960s pop — a bright, slightly tinny guitar jangle, a walking bass line, handclaps that feel borrowed from a Spector recording session, horns that bloom in the chorus with the specific warmth of vinyl. Josh Tillman's voice here is loose and unguarded, closer to Van Morrison than to the careful literary construction of his other work. He sounds, genuinely, happy — and because we know his usual mode, the happiness reads as brave rather than naive. The song is about the simple and overwhelming fact of being in love with a specific person, and it says this without a single self-protective layer. It stands out in his catalog the way a bright room stands out at the end of a long corridor. Put it on at the beginning of a summer drive, windows down, coffee in hand, with someone you actually want to be sitting next to.
medium
2010s
bright, warm, polished
American indie pop channeling early 1960s Spector-era production
Pop, Indie Pop. Retro Pop / Sunshine Pop. euphoric, romantic. Opens in uncomplicated, unguarded joy and sustains it without irony or deflection from start to finish.. energy 7. medium. danceability 7. valence 9. vocals: warm male baritone, loose, unguarded, genuinely happy. production: jangly guitar, walking bass, handclaps, blooming brass horns, analog warmth. texture: bright, warm, polished. acousticness 5. era: 2010s. American indie pop channeling early 1960s Spector-era production. First minutes of a summer drive with windows down and someone you actually want beside you.