John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
Late entry! I always browse all the ‘Albums of the Year’ lists that I can find, interested to see what people thought of albums I also liked, and also whether there are any especially interesting ones that I might have missed. Then I give them a try. This year I spotted this album by John Grant at the top of Rough Trade’s list (for example) and on reading about it thought it worth a try. Turns out they knew what they were talking about (strange, that…). This is lovely, acerbic, quirky pop (if the latter sounds derogatory, it isn’t meant to be). Apparently the more electro-pop angle of this album is a new direction (I’ve already ordered his previous album, Queen of Denmark, to check that out, too) but it works perfectly with his lovely baritone voice and laconic delivery of lines such as “they say that I should go outside more / and drink lots of water all the time / but that does not seem to be working / ’cause you still have not come back to me.” There are genuinely catchy tunes on here with intelligent, interesting and funny (self-deprecating) lyrics, which is a pretty unusual combination, in my experience…
LostMeow 