John Grant - Pale Green Ghosts

Yes and yes again.

he's just really good at making 70s singer songwriter stuff he should stick to that

He is but thus my Nilsson-in-the-80s comparison point I made upthread. He's smart enough to know his metier AND to extend it.

I ordered this through Rough Trade MONTHS ago, when it was not yet released in the US. Now it is, it's everywhere, but I still haven't gotten anything from RT. Sucks, because I really want to buy it (yeah, I'm one of those crazy people you read about that still buys these things) but I know the day I do, there will be a package from Rough Trade in my door.

fortunately you can listen to it on Spotify while you wait for your copy to show up

i've bought this but its also on grooveshart (if your office will not permit spotify).

Holy shit is he ever great live. There wasn't a single track that didn't hit harder than the studio version.

fyi this album is pretty much flawless

I like his singing on Queen of Denmark! It sounds so loose and fun. The couple times I've sat down with this one his voice sounds too mannered and cleaned up. Produced. Doesn't fit the material. Maybe I'll fall in love with it on next listen

Paraphrasing a bit I just recalled from the live show: after taking a moment to mourn the advance of anti-gay laws in Russia, he mentions that he's just written a song about Putin entitled "Smug Cunt." "That's not a joke. And I don't care if he sprinkles polonium on my Pop Tarts." Pretty sure he launched into "Glacier" after that. <3 <3

When this is good it is very good indeed.

I bought the miniLP because Beth Orton is singing one of the tracks.

Hm, interesting

I wonder if Biggi from Gus Gus is being invited to produce lots of albums now? (Perhaps he already did so?)

saw this guy on letterman. was the song he performed representative? b/c i'm still not sure it wasn't a joke. it was horrible, listless, dull as shit. maybe his lyrical approach in general reveals what he was trying to do here but out of context it was almost a parody of mopey singer-songwriter lyrics.

Reminds me a bit of nilsson

the slice that is a parody of mopey singer songwriters anyway

The stilted songwriting works some of the time, particularly on 'Glacier' which I find affecting partly because he sings things like 'And creating spectacular landscapes. And nourishing the ground. With precious minerals and other stuff." Something very bathetic about that.

Self-conscious self-parody is a big part of his deal.

smdh at how anyone could miss the humour in GMF

One of the great things about this album is how it's a monomanaical breakup record written from the perspective of someone who knows full well that they're becoming so boring that their friends have started avoiding them.

(And yet still can't stop banging on about it)

^^^^

I think a lot of the time he chooses deliberately ridiculous lyrics as a way of getting across that extreme emotions are often ridiculous (because overblown, or because corny, or because cliched, or because incoherent) though still sincerely felt.

yep

Matt OTM.

I can find some of the (same) lyrics deeply irritating and some close to genius, depending on my mood.

I must admit I don't like the "... and other stuff" because it feels incomplete or tossed off. I sometimes get that same feeling with the swearing in a kind of some of it is powerful *quality swearing* and other times it is a bit of a waste - other words might have said much more.

He's said in interviews that he hones the lyrics for ages so it's not tossed off. It's a deliberate stylistic choice - to run against the grain of a sweeping melody with awkward or abrasive language. Doesn't mean you have to like it, obviously. I like "other stuff" and love him in general but I sometimes wish he'd gone for a more conventionally elegant rhyme. I looked up the interview I did with him where I mentioned that line and he said: "I have to say, not to pat myself on the back or anything, but I’m particularly pleased with that line, 'And other stuff'. Because of how it functions in that song, and it works."

And then later: "I guess the first time that I noticed it was maybe reading Henry Miller. It was, 'Oh, this is just like people talk', and that’s interesting. Just how people talk is interesting. And that combination, I guess that’s what I’m fascinated with, the combination of literature speak and how we actually speak, and then profanity, because profanity … you know, I would get in big trouble for using a swearword when I was a child. I’d get slapped in the face. But, let’s face it: those words can’t be replaced by anything else. I mean, I could have said, 'I hate this bloody town' but that’s not what we would say, you know."

Nommed for a Brit. What a turn-up.

I agree that some of the swearing is needed and works. And - particularly as one of the few things I know about Grant is his language skills - other times I just wish he'd flicked through his thesaurus or racked his brains for a different word.

(I *do* like the album a lot.)

Xpost
As an amateur songwriter I fucking love that approach, and stuff like that

"and other stuff" is great, it undercuts the pomposity of the lyrics beforehand.

Similarly, I also love the bit in "Sigourney Weaver" where he starts singing about feeling like Winona Ryder in "Dracula": "and she couldn't get that accent right / and neither could that other guy".

Reading this thread for the first time.

can't think of many comparisons that really work.

seriously, this dude's voice is fucking incredible

Am I the only one who thought Brandan Perry when I first heard him? Their voices are incredibly similar imo. That's a compliment of course. The song "Pale Green Ghosts" even sounds like late-period Dead Can Dance.

Grant's turn on a Piano Magic album was a pretty good DCD impersonation

I have a hard time with his solo records, and I had a hard time with the last Czars album (with it's god awful autotune) but sometimes it feels like it really works.

xp First time I heard Sigourney Weaver, knowing nothing about Grant's sense of humour, I laughed out loud. It felt liberating, like I didn't know you could have a lyric like that with a voice like that. If Malkmus or Mark E Smith sang that line it would be funny but expected - Grant doesn't sing like someone funny and I find that dissonance exhilirating.

New video for Glacier is extraordinary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QLrMK9qBtYY

http://youtu.be/QLrMK9qBtYY

Re: Sigourney Weaver... I wondered why the absurd lyrics dont detract from the beauty of the song and I'd guess that it helps add this sense of joy (that I think is present in the music and vocals) along with the melancholy, making it all richer for it.

xpost fantastic video

v cool video, also super relieved there was no Dallas Buyers Club content at the end there.

I didn't know you could have a lyric like that with a voice like that. If Malkmus or Mark E Smith sang that line it would be funny but expected - Grant doesn't sing like someone funny and I find that dissonance exhilirating.

Don't get it -- how is what this guy is doing different from what e.g. Neil Hannon does?

(Don't get me wrong, I love Neil Hannon and think there should be more Neil Hannons. Neil Hannae?)

It took me way too long to love this guy.

He sings on the new Hercules and Love Affair album.

Don't get it -- how is what this guy is doing different from what e.g. Neil Hannon does?

Neil Hannon is often jokey, never funny

I am at his London gig right now (husband duty) and am wondering why nearly every song kicks off with dreary 'Imagine' piano chords. Dude, change it up!

wondering why this is getting the big push now - saw an advert on the tube earlier. good album but thought it was a bit more underground - dude's presumably gonna be everywhere now

I hope he ascends to being the most famous and celebrated

given how GMF keeps popping into my consciousness at the oddest times, he may already be part of the way there

GAH no I'm not jealous oh no

http://bellaunion.com/2014/04/john-grant-announces-november-uk-orchestral-tour/

Just over a year since the release of his critically-lauded second album Pale Green Ghosts, and with numerous Best Album of 2013 accolades and a Brit Award nomination to his name, JOHN GRANT has announced news of one of his most exciting ventures yet.

This November will see the former Czars frontman embark upon a seven-date tour accompanied by the Royal Northern Sinfonia in which John’s celebrated catalogue will be reworked and reimagined with a sumptuous orchestral setting, alongside the world premiere of some especially written new songs. John Grant’s creativity, unique songwriting and wonderful vocals combined with thirty four musicians promises a one-off musical experience. The tour will be orchestrated by Fiona Brice who has provided arrangements for the the likes of Roy Harper, Vashti Bunyan, Anna Calvi, Midlake, Placebo, as well as John himself.

'Outer Space' plays over a good scene in The Skeleton Twins

He played at the Royal Festival Hall last night with an orchestra backing him and it was fucking incredible, virtually flawless, like some early Scott Walker shit with added gigantic synths and self-loathing. I've seen him live before but this was something else, never quite appreciated how brilliantly he can pull off a sudden register jump before.

the 2013 album I most regret not discovering in time. His tunes on the Hercules & Love Affair record are good too.

Live album released today, backed by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. I recorded it when originally broadcast on 6Music a few weeks ago; it's excellent.

"the only boy" is also on this. it sounds really nice. the lyrics are a bit much. it probably shouldn't be ten minutes long.

I thought this revive was going to be related to the Facebook ad that uses "Black Belt":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ekg56Ji56o

beard man gets paid

I was gonna mention it in the PSB/Tag Team thread.

Ha I was going to mention it, too

I finally am catching up on the albums after Pale Green Ghosts and just started Love Is Magic and, well... there's pretty much no way the live version of "Metamorphosis" could be worse

he's obviously a brilliant guy and a great singer but my suspicion is he needs just the right collaborators to shield him from his worst instincts...this is why I'm semi hopeful about the new one

I think Colonel Mustard did it in the billiard room / Yeah yeah

I might have to peace out on this

Have posted this on the Gus Gus thread but worth putting here, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3mwdn0rYjA