One of the most satisfying aspects of comedian — and sometimes folk singer — Tim Heidecker’s anti-comedy is figuring out when to laugh. His punchlines run deep; it’s often easy to be unsure if a joke has even been told, as with his latest indie folk offering, What The Brokenhearted Do… The album chronicles the emotional downfall of a “faux-divorce” that Heidecker conjured as a response to internet trolls who fabricated rumours of his wife leaving him. 

While the pain in the content might be fictional, the album boasts a lot of feels that hit just as hard as any true tale of heartbreak.   

Jonathan Rado of Foxygen’s production of this tragicomic pop record is solid and Heidecker’s straight-faced four-on-the-floor musicianship makes the album genuine and surprisingly ear-wormy. Song titles such as “I’m Not Good Enough,” “Funeral Shoes,” and “Life’s Too Long” set the tone for the lyrics, a self-deprecating barrage of a man’s lowest lows.  

Some of the best music has emerged from the depths of sorrow and Heidecker works this in his favour. With his cringeworthy level of sincerity and his varied output as both a comedian and a genuine songwriter, it’s not clear who is having the last laugh here, but we’re still listening.  

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