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Father John Misty Teams With Botany, Preps Black Friday Film Score

Father John Misty, Botany, "Laughtrack," soundtrack, Black Friday, Record Store Day, the History of Caves

Josh Tillman, better known as Father John Misty, has been pouring his creative energies into other people’s projects recently. October 16 brought his essay touting fellow singer-songwriter Damien Jurado’s upcoming album, Brothers and Sisters of the Eternal Sun. Now “Laughtrack,” Tillman’s collaboration with Texas-born electronic artist Botany, is streaming, and label Sub Pop has announced his score for an upcoming short film will arrive on November 29 as part of Record Store Day’s Black Friday festivities.

Botany’s debut album, Lava Diviner (Truestory), is due out October 29 via Western Vinyl, and the whole record is streaming now over at Dazed Digital. But “Laughtrack” isn’t on it. Below you can check out and download the Father John Misty collaboration, which frames that folksy voice in a dewy, glistening soundscape that would do well as cloud-rap. “The actor in the rabbit suit is beaming with pride,” Tillman intones at one point, his surrealist lyrics and winding melodies linking the song to baroque ’70s rock.

Meanwhile, The History of Caves is the directorial debut of photographer Emma Elizabeth Tillman, who wed Mr. Misty in September. The short will come out digitally this year along with Father John’s 10-track instrumental score, which Sub Pop describes as “spare” and “haunting.” The Black Friday LP will be limited to 2,000 copies. Also for the occasion, Sub Pop will release a seven-inch split single featuring Low’s cover of Rihanna’s “Stay” backed by Shearwater’s cover of Frank Ocean’s “Novacane”; this one is limited to 3,500 copies, and will benefit Rock for Kids and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The History of Caves track list:

1. “Finish Those Cigarettes & Go to Bed”
2. “News of the World”
3. “Alternate Title Score 777”
4. “Dial Tone”
5. “I Call It the Demon Tree”
6. “Of Course I Live With Them”
7. “Car Chase Theme”
8. “Dial Tone 2”
9. “Tender is the Night in Paperback”
10. “Titles Theme for Boy Voices”