J. Tillman is leaving Fleet Foxes! On Wednesday, after having completed the ‘Helplessness Blues’ tour, he simply announced it on his blog (http://fatherjohnmisty.tumblr.com)by the simple statement:
‘Farewell Fleet Fans and Friends. Back into the gaping maw of obscurity I go. Tokyo is my last show with the Foxes. Sorry if I was distant and obtuse if we ever met. Have fun.’
This is a bold move since the band is successful, but he probably wants to pursue his solo career as he has already released several solo albums before and after having joined Fleet Foxes.
I remember seeing him at Origami Vinyl a year ago. He did an acoustic set playing his intense folk-country songs. I remember the tunes being grave and melancholic with poignant lyrics, often talking about biblical characters or also being almost the confessional type. I took some videos of his performance, and they were great as he sounded excellent and was very close to the public.
However, a few days later, he sent me this message asking me to remove them from YouTube:
‘Would you mind please removing those videos, just for my peace of mind?’ he asked
I removed them of course, I guess these songs were not recorded yet and will feature on his next solo album.