Father John Misty Shares Solo-Acoustic ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ Nirvana Cover

Father John Misty released a cover of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” that was recorded live at SiriusXM. The track was included with a collection of demos that became the 2015 FJM album, I Love You, Honeybear.

Released today by Sub Pop Records, I Love You, Honeybear Demos, etc. was originally released on cassette in 2015. Other than the Nirvana cover, the new digital-only re-release consists of 10 demos of songs that were seeds of what became the second album Joshua Tillman issued as Father John Misty.

Tillman wrote the following note after the release of the record, writing:

“I Love You, Honeybear is a concept album about a guy named Josh Tillman who spends quite a bit of time banging his head against walls, cultivating weak ties with strangers, and generally avoiding intimacy at all costs. This all serves to fuel a version of himself that his self-loathing narcissism can deal with. We see him engaging in all manner of regrettable behavior…

“My ambition, aside from making an indulgent, soulful, and epic sound worthy of the subject matter, was to address the sensuality of fear, the terrifying force of love, the unutterable pleasures of true intimacy, and the destruction of emotional and intellectual prisons in my own voice. Blammo”

Tillman’s solo acoustic guitar take on Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” was performed at SiriusXM during the I Love You Honeybear promotional cycle. Listen to the live recording below:

Father John Misty’s most recent album, Mahashmashana, arrived via Sub Pop in 2024. A tour in support of the album, with support from Destroyer, began this week and continues tonight at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.