John Grant | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Singer/songwriter John Grant transforms his struggles with addiction and his perspective as a gay man into music full of dry wit and unflinching honesty. While his distinctive viewpoint and resonant voice remain constants of his music, over time his sound has evolved. His 2010 debut Queen of Denmark -- which featured contributions from his close friends in the band Midlake -- echoed the sound of his former band, the alt country-meets-dream pop act the Czars. Later, Grant incorporated more of his enduring love for synth pop and industrial music on albums like 2015s Grey Tickles, Black Pressure and 2018s Love Is Magic. On every album, his ability to switch from ironic to heartfelt, and from suave to blunt at a moments notice makes Grant a compellingly idiosyncratic artist. Born in Michigan and raised in Colorado by Methodist parents who disapproved of his emerging homosexuality, Grant was bullied in high school and struggled with anxiety and addiction. After moving to Germany in 1988 to study languages (he is fluent in German, Russian, Spanish, and Icelandic), he returned to the States in 1994 and formed the Czars, a Colorado-based band whose music split the difference between shoegaze, dream pop, and alternative country. Fueled by Grants songwriting and rich baritone vocals, the band released a pair of independent albums in the 90s before signing with Bella Union, a British label run by two former members of the Cocteau Twins. The Czars established a small international audience during the new millennium, but albums like Before...But Longer and The Ugly People vs. the Beautiful People failed to attract a larger following, and the group ultimately broke up in 2004 after the release of Sorry I Made You Cry. After the split, Grant moved to New York and worked as a waiter and a Russian interpreter for a city hospital while also playing with bands like Midlake and the Flaming Lips. He also began dealing with his addictions and continued writing songs. In 2009, members of Midlake joined Grant in the recording studio, serving as his backup band during the creation of his first solo project. The resulting album -- a quirky, cynical record titled Queen of Denmark -- was released by Bella Union in 2010. Two years later, Grant announced he was HIV positive during a performance with Hercules & Love Affair at Londons Meltdown Festival. For his second solo album, he wanted to reflect more of his lifelong love of electronic music in his own work, and recruited Biggi Veira of Icelandic electro-pop outfit GusGus to work with him on Pale Green Ghosts. Recorded in Reykjavik, the album arrived in 2013 and featured vocals from Sinéad OConnor. The following year, the concert album John Grant and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra: Live in Concert arrived. Having found a new home in Iceland, Grant further established himself there by co-writing Icelands entry in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, "No Prejudice," which was performed by Pollapönk. That year, he also contributed his version of "Sweet Painted Lady" to the 40th anniversary edition of Elton Johns Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and appeared on Hercules & Love Affairs third album, Feast of the Broken Heart. For 2015s Grey Tickles, Black Pressure -- which took its name from the Icelandic term for "midlife crisis" and the Turkish phrase meaning "nightmare," respectively -- Grant worked with producer John Congleton, Tracey Thorn, Amanda Palmer, and former Siouxsie and the Banshees drummer Budgie. Grant then worked on several collaborations, including writing a song with Robbie Williams that appeared on the singers 2016 album The Heavy Entertainment Show; recording a duet with Susanne Sundfør for her 2017 album Music for People in Trouble; and appearing on Vessels 2017 single "Erase the Tapes." Early in 2018, Grants dark electro-pop project Creep Show -- which also featured former Cabaret Voltaire frontman Stephen Mallinder, Tuungs Phillip Winter, and Ben "Benge" Edwards -- released its debut album Mr. Dynamite. Grant also worked with Edwards on his fourth solo album, Love Is Magic. Inspired by the 80s synth pop sounds of the Eurythmics, Ultravox, and Visage, as well as the Carpenters and Einstürzende Neubauten, the album arrived on Bella Union in October 2018. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 8 Title: Queen of Denmark Released: 2010-04-06 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:09:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 TC and Honeybear (05:06) 2 Marz (03:58) 3 Where Dreams go to Die (06:04) 4 Sigourney Weaver (03:31) 5 Chicken Bones (03:38) 6 Silver Platter Club (04:10) 7 Its Easier (04:38) 8 Outer Space (03:15) 9 Jesus Hates Faggots (03:48) 10 Caramel (03:35) 11 Leopard & Lamb (04:41) 12 Queen of Denmark (04:45) 1 That’s the Good News (04:14) 2 Supernatural Defibrillator (02:53) 3 Fireflies (03:42) 4 What Time? (07:54) |
| Queen of Denmark : Allmusic album Review : Although co-founded by John Grant and Chris Pearson, the Czars were always Grant’s band, with most of the group’s acclaim stemming from his deep, resonant vocals and songwriting. The frontman reportedly butted heads with his four bandmates, but such creative tension helped mold the Czars into an eclectic group, and Grant’s voice -- despite being the cornerstone of every Czars album -- wouldn’t have shined as brightly without the dreamy, shoegazing music that flanked it. Queen of Denmark, his first release without the Czars, lacks that creative tension. Although recorded with Midlake (the band even shares billing in the album’s title), it feels more like a solo release, lacking both the cohesion of a proper lineup and the checks-and-balances system that Grant’s former bandmates provided. Left to his own devices, he unknowingly dilutes his strengths, whether he’s trading poetry for campy lyrics (“I wish I had the brain of a Tyrannosaurus Rex so I wouldn’t have to deal with all this crap”) or aiming for a contemporary version of ‘70s soft rock and coming up with mundane Americana instead. There’s no hiding the fact that Grant is a seriously talented vocalist, and the album’s best moments occur whenever he tones down the camp and, with a mix of Eddie Vedder’s baritone and Tim Buckley’s vibrato, reaches for the heartstrings instead. But with song titles like “Sigourney Weaver” and “Jesus Hates Faggots,” Queen of Denmark is more concerned with Grant’s cynicism. | ||
 | Album: 2 of 8 Title: Pale Green Ghosts Released: 2013-03-08 Tracks: 17 Duration: 1:40:46 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Wikipedia Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Pale Green Ghosts (06:04) 2 Black Belt (04:19) 3 GMF (05:14) 4 Vietnam (05:29) 5 It Doesn’t Matter to Him (06:27) 6 Why Dont You Love Me Anymore (06:12) 7 You Dont Have To (05:54) 8 Sensitive New Age Guy (04:42) 9 Ernest Borgnine (04:54) 10 I Hate This Town (04:04) 11 Glacier (07:38) 1 Black Belt (Hercules & Love Affair remix) (07:48) 2 Black Belt (Gluteus Maximus vocal remix) (08:24) 3 Pale Green Ghosts (Nivolt remix) (05:20) 4 Pale Green Ghosts (No Ceremony remix) (04:48) 5 Why Dont You Love Me (Nivolt remix) (05:48) 6 Why Dont You Love Me (Bon Homme remix) (07:39) |
| Pale Green Ghosts : Allmusic album Review : The title track from the ex Czars frontmans second solo outing, the chilly, electro-kissed Pale Green Ghosts, sounds like a Brendan Perry (of Dead Can Dance)-fronted Kraftwerk taking on a James Bond theme. Like much of the album, its icy, stylish, pompous, and self-obsessed, which is the direct antithesis, at least sonically, of his previous album, the maudlin, confessional Queen of Denmark, which was made with the help of wistful Texas folk-rockers Midlake. Pale Green Ghosts, on the other hand, was recorded in Reykjavik, Iceland with the help of GusGus Birgir Þórarinsson (Biggi Veira) and while Grant keeps the microscope firmly on himself throughout the 11-track set, he does so with more wit and panache than he did on the records predecessor. Populated by slinky electro-pop cuts ("Sensitive New Age Guy" and "Black Belt"), saucy, Harry Nilsson-esque, chamber pop fight songs (the saucy "GMF," one of two tracks to feature backing vocals from Sinéad OConnor), and melodramatic "Return to Oz"-era, Scissor Sisters-inspired ballads ("Vietnam," "I Hate This Town," and "Glacier"), Pale Green Ghosts has a little something for everyone, and while all of the over-sharing can be a little overbearing, Grants huge, expressive, and oddly comforting voice acts as a sedative, turning even the saddest, raunchiest, and most uncomfortable turn of phrase into a caress. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 8 Title: Strongroom EP Released: 2013-03-18 Tracks: 5 Duration: 25:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 It Doesnt Matter to Him (05:39) 2 Vietnam (05:30) 3 Glacier (07:51) 4 Why Dont You Love Me Anymore (?) 5 You Dont Have To (06:16) |
 | Album: 4 of 8 Title: Gets Schooled Released: 2013-11-18 Tracks: 5 Duration: 25:23 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Glacier (07:30) 2 You Dont Have To (04:52) 3 It Doesnt Matter to Him (04:09) 4 My Love My Life (04:00) 5 Ernest Borgnine (04:52) |
 | Album: 5 of 8 Title: Live in Concert Released: 2014-12-01 Tracks: 16 Duration: 1:30:55 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 It Doesnt Matter to Him (07:17) 2 Sigourney Weaver (03:52) 3 Vietnam (06:20) 4 Marz (04:54) 5 Fireflies (04:47) 6 Where Dreams Go to Die (06:06) 7 Caramel (04:00) 8 Glacier (08:44) 1 T C & Honeybear (05:31) 2 Its Easier (04:44) 3 GMF (06:08) 4 Pale Green Ghosts (08:01) 5 Outer Space (03:12) 6 You Dont Have To (06:48) 7 Drug (03:55) 8 Queen of Denmark (06:28) |
 | Album: 6 of 8 Title: Grey Tickles, Black Pressure Released: 2015-10-09 Tracks: 14 Duration: 57:27 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Intro (01:37) 2 Grey Tickles, Black Pressure (05:30) 3 Snug Slacks (04:12) 4 Guess How I Know (03:34) 5 You and Him (03:26) 6 Down Here (04:09) 7 Voodoo Doll (03:07) 8 Global Warming (04:05) 9 Magma Arrives (05:03) 10 Black Blizzard (04:48) 11 Disappointing (04:55) 12 No More Tangles (06:09) 13 Geraldine (06:22) 14 Outro (00:30) |
| Grey Tickles, Black Pressure : Allmusic album Review : John Grants solo career reveals that hes more of a shapeshifter than might have been predicted from his tenure with the Czars. On Queen of Denmark and especially Pale Green Ghosts, he coupled his always incisive, insightful songwriting with increasingly adventurous sounds. The artier he gets, the more clearly he distills his emotions, and Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is some of his angriest, saddest and funniest music yet. Its also his most diverse, building on Pale Green Ghosts electronics with blobby synths and taut funk and new wave underpinnings. Combining the Icelandic term for "midlife crisis" with the Turkish phrase for "nightmare," the albums title and cover telegraph Grants headspace: caught between existential humor and terror, youths lingering ambitions and the disappointments of age, he uses his crisis as an opportunity to pair lavish sounds with razor-sharp lyrics that tear them down. Grant bookends the album with recitations of 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ("Love is patient, love is kind...") and explodes any truisms about relationships in between. Theres a fine line between come-ons and kiss-offs in his world, and lust rots into anger on the Talking Heads-esque "Snug Slacks" and the seething "You & Him," which boasts one of the albums most brilliant couplets: "You and Hitler ought to get together/You ought to learn how to knit and wear matching sweaters." However, Grant aims some of Grey Tickles, Black Pressures sharpest barbs at himself. He steeps the title track in hyper-aware self-loathing and characterizes addiction as a supervillain who fills "our heros veins with shame" on "Magma Arrives," an allusion to one of Spider-Mans lesser-known foes that is among scores of obscure and common pop culture references packed into the album. These touchstones only underscore how unique Grants perspective is, even on Grey Tickles cheerier moments. "Disappointing," an inspired synth pop duet between Grant and Tracey Thorn, paints the best things in life -- which include Central Park on an autumn day and the women of Saturday Night Live -- as letdowns compared to that special someone; on the funky "Voodoo Doll," he uses the object to make a friend feel better instead of worse, going so far as to give it some chicken soup. Grant ends the album on a surprisingly uplifting note with "No More Tangles," which, despite its shampoo-inspired title and increasingly lavish arrangement, never loses its emotional impact. At nearly an hour long, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is a dense, rewarding listen from an artist whos becoming more complex, and more direct, with each album. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 8 Title: Love Is Magic Released: 2018-10-12 Tracks: 10 Duration: 57:47 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Metamorphosis (05:41) 2 Love Is Magic (06:21) 3 Tempest (06:32) 4 Preppy Boy (04:47) 5 Smug Cunt (06:23) 6 Hes Got His Mothers Hips (03:39) 7 Diet Gum (07:25) 8 Is He Strange (05:17) 9 The Common Snipe (06:37) 10 Touch and Go (05:03) |
 | Album: 8 of 8 Title: Remixes Are Also Magic Released: 2019-04-13 Tracks: 4 Duration: 18:48 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Preppy Boy (Nik Void remix) (05:03) 2 Touch and Go (Blancmange remix) (04:03) 3 Grey Tickles Black Pressure (Carter Tutti remix) (06:05) 4 Voodoo Doll (Anna Meredith remix) (03:37) |