Father John Misty - Mr. Tillman

What this video is

Released April 25, 2018, 'Mr. Tillman' arrived as the lead single from God's Favorite Customer, Father John Misty's fourth album and a swift follow-up to the critically lauded Pure Comedy (2017). The song and video function as a self-implicating meditation on dissociation, persona, and surveillance — themes resonant in the late-2010s climate of social media performance and celebrity self-destruction. The hotel…

Why it matters

A landmark of late-2010s art-pop music video craft, 'Mr. Tillman' exemplifies the Sub Pop prestige-indie visual aesthetic: high-concept narrative, auteur co-directors with distinct film careers, and VFX deployed not for spectacle but for psychological texture. The video reinforces Father John…

The director

Jeff Desom: Luxembourg-born (b. 1984), BAFTA-nominated writer, director, and VFX artist working between Luxembourg and Los Angeles; studied at Arts Institute Bournemouth; won Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronica (2012) for Rear Window Timelapse; music video…