(2021) Pearly Gate Music - Mainly Gestalt Pornography  


Review:
Zach Tillman’s second outing under the moniker, Mainly Gestalt Pornography had a difficult gestation period. Shortly after the release of his eponymous debut in 2010, Tillman shipped a handful of demos to the late Richard Swift, who enthusiastically agreed to helm the next PGM effort. Production was halted after Tillman suffered a “total mental breakdown” on the eve of his first session. The project spent the next decade in limbo – that same ten-year period also marked the ascension of his elder brother Josh (AKA Father John Misty) to indie rock royalty. Spurred by the birth of his firstborn child and freed of creative stasis, Tillman decamped to Portland with longtime collaborator Daniel Hindman to bring the project to fruition. The resulting ten-song set bears the hallmarks of a Tillman family production – erudite, west coast retro-pop peppered with humor and pathos – but eschews the studio polish and over-reliance on sardonic observation for something a little bit sweeter and decidedly more homespun. Opener “Chiron’s Bow” ambles gamely out of the gate, pairing a simple, Luna-esque melody with lyrics that reflects the author’s hard-won transformation (“It takes a chance to change/Takes a horse to reign”). The sweeping ballad “The Secret, Finally” and the sparse and lovely “Ocean’s Song – composed for his daughter – go down easy as well, with the latter track hewing closest to the distinctive cadence of his sibling. Like his brother, Tillman has a knack for rendering eccentricity into sugary, bite-sized confections. While the cheekily named Mainly Gestalt Pornography, with its lo-fi approach and sometimes impenetrable lyrical persuasions, can feel a bit slight at times, there’s no denying the artistry behind it.





Track Listing:
1.Chiron's Bow 04:27
2.The Secret, Finally 03:20
3.Life Is A Dream 04:18
4.The Moon 04:24
5.Ocean's Song 03:59
6.I Was A Wand'rer 03:58
7.Can We Go Off To The Distance 03:32
8.Old No.22 04:25
9.Stefani 05:26
10.Like Flowers 05:01


Media Report:
Genre: indie-folk, indie-rock
Country: USA
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits