Father John Misty has shared a new single, ‘The X-panded Universe’, and announced some US tour dates for later this year. Listen and find all the details below.
The expansive song follows on from the singer-songwriter’s previous two 2026 tracks, ‘The Payoff’ and ‘The Old Law’ (formerly known as ‘God’s Trash’).
“’25?’/ The chair-bound oracle/ Dr Valence Can’t believe/ That this girl is the perfect weapon/ He was sent here to retrieve,” he sings in the first verse, over a minimal instrumental, backed by a skeletal beat.
The single then introduces some strings, before building to include some lush orchestral flourishes. “Answers are few now/ Upstate there are more like her/ But Colossus isn’t sure/ This Texas Candy heiress/ Between medications/ On a padded room floor/ Is our last hope,” he adds.
“But it’s OK/ I am the dark star that your illness cannot cure/ The liberation front is only eight days on foot away/ In the X-panded universe/ In the crossover event/ God is only as good as the villains he invents.”
After pondering over the higher powers that be, Misty (aka Josh Tillman) sings of “an inter-dimensional virus” and about how “human love is true“. He states that “there must be timelines like this/ Where heroes don’t x-ist“, ahead of repeating that “everyone gets saved” in the sprawling, epic final part.
‘The X-panded Universe’ was written by Tillman, arranged by Drew Erickson, and co-produced by the pair.
Father John Misty has also announced a run of US shows for this winter, with opener Damien Jurado. The trek begins in Boulder, Colorado, on December 9, and ends with a two-night billing in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, on December 18 and 19.
Tickets go on general sale at 10am local time this Friday (October 2) – you’ll be able to buy yours here. Alternatively, you can find pre-sale information via Ticketmaster.
Tillman is due to play a sold-out headline show at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, California, on October 6, too.
Father John Misty’s 2026 US tour dates are:
October
06 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre
DECEMBER
09 – Boulder, CO – Boulder Theatre
10 – Ft. Collins, CO – Washington’s
12 – Santa Fe, NM – The Lensic Center For The Arts
13 – Tucson, AZ – La Rosa
15 – Napa, CA – Uptown Theater
16 – Grass Valley, CA – Center for the Arts
18 – Carmel-by-the-sea, CA – Sunset Cultural Center
19 – Carmel-by-the-sea, CA – Sunset Cultural Center
The musician brought his huge ‘Evening With Father John Misty’ show to London’s O2 Shepherds Bush Empire this June, as part of a European run. He then embarked on a US and Canada leg throughout the rest of the summer and into autumn.
Tillman’s sixth and latest studio album, ‘Mahashmashana’, arrived in late 2024. In a four-star review, NME wrote: “The lush ‘Mahashmashana’ doesn’t quite mainline the zeitgeist in the same way that ‘Honeybear’ and ‘Pure Comedy’ did. Then again, there’s something to be said, in 2024, for logging off in favour of self-reflection.
“On the swooning ‘Mental Health’, Misty rejects the hive mind, concluding that his own particular ‘insanity‘ is ‘indispensable‘. Whoever the folk he is underneath that beard, the good Father can’t help but share words of wisdom.”
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