The simplicity inherent to Heidecker’s shaky command of the form was given a much-needed guiding hand. Ultimately, Fear of Death was always going to be a tough act to follow: a raucous, gorgeously produced collaboration between Heidecker, Mering, The Lemon Twigs, and a laundry list of additional musicians and engineers.

He wrote about this situation on a track off his last album, Fear of Death, called “Little Lamb.” In the nursery rhyme medley, he duets with Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering, singing to the embittered fans that he’s lost for not kowtowing to the demands of those who’d prefer that he just stick to comedy. Not all of Heidecker’s fans like how outspokenly political he is, though, nor do they favor the other artistic avenues that Heidecker is interested in taking beyond his comedy, the latter of which has a fiercely passionate, borderline protective fanbase. In between those two, he put out Too Dumb for Suicide, another political parody album, this time skewering former President Donald Trump. Heidecker’s sophomore solo album, In Glendale, considered the joys and pains of domestication and fatherhood amid life in Heidecker’s beloved current home in Northern Los Angeles, which was then followed by What the Brokenhearted Do-a break-up album spurred by a fake internet rumor that Heidecker’s wife was divorcing him.

Though best-known as half of famed comedy duo Tim & Eric, Heidecker kicked off his debut foray into the music world with a joke album about the late Republican politician Herman Cain, the majority of his musical work has been defined by melancholic folk rock simple, catchy chords pulled bouncily along by his Randy Newman-esque voice, oscillating with equal amounts of ease between slyly funny one-liners that pull from his humor roots and ruminations on existential despair. Tim Heidecker is aware of his limitations as a singer and songwriter, but that doesn’t stop him from making music.

Tim heidecker