John Grant - I Wanna Go To Marz

John Grant - what can I say except I love this guy!  You must remember those rare moments when you hear a song and you just have to listen to more and more by that person/band and every track takes your breath away.  I might never have heard John Grant at all were it not for something that came up in one of the music sites I subscribe to.  A little breaking news story popped up which stated that via Facebook John Grant had said
“Just two minutes ago, at quarter to midnight I’m being told that my tour of the U.S. has been cancelled and I am in shock. But it’s true, this is not a joke. Apparently there were no pre-sales to speak of and so they’ve decided to make this decision the night before I leave.
“Don’t ask me any questions right now, I’m pissed off and need to find out more about wtf is going on.” 

Intrigued I wondered what this guy was like and why a tour would be cancelled at short notice like that.  Maybe he was just terrible.  Well, being the curious person that I am, I had to know so I had a listen and I have to be honest, my jaw hit the floor.  Never, since hearing the first Fleet Foxes album, have I fallen so head over heels in love so completely, so immediately with a musician/band and their music.  I began texting everyone I knew.  Had they heard him?  Some had heard of him but no one had heard him.  I had already downloaded Queen of Denmark (the album from 2010) and spent much of the day obsessing about this guy's music and joining in the with the masses of (mostly European) music lovers begging him to forget the US and to come and tour over here because we understood his music and appreciated him much more than America ever could.

I'm still not sure what appeals to me most about Grant's music.  There is certainly a singer-songwriter style to a lot of it and everyone who knows me knows I am a sucker for that.  1970s yes, but as a BBC piece on Queen of Denmark's release rightly points out, there are more similarities to Clifford T Ward, Neil Sedaka, Gilbert O'Sullivan and Jackson Browne than with Elton John and Leonard Cohen (and just for the record, I can definitely hear Harry Nilsson in there too).  The melodies twist and turn so beautifully and unexpectedly but then the lyrics... oh boy, the lyrics.  I had to warn some people about the swearing and the use of certain unmentionable words.  But they work so well together to shock, seduce and worm their way into your brain (as I found out when I had to check myself singing the chorus to Chicken Bones!)  He has also been likened to Rufus Wainwright, but without the whiny vocals that I find so difficult to listen to.  Grant's rich baritone is much more easy on the ear.

And then I watched the video for I Wanna Go To Marz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzWQSabtWLs
I found it disturbing, moving, powerful, funny.  All the emotions experienced when listening to the album in fact. 

John Grant has the band Midlake as his backing musicians here.  I had heard Midlake's album last year and to be honest, they never quite did it for me.  But here they shine.  Interestingly, John may also be remembered for being one third of the band The Czars and when they disbanded it was Midlake who persuaded Grant to tour with them and make a solo album at their Denton studio.  This was the result.  Thank you Midlake.

A nice postscript to the above is that Grant has been nominated for three MOJO Awards this month. He is is up for Best Album (for ‘Queen Of Denmark’), Best Live Act and MOJO Song Of The Year for “I Wanna Go To Marz”.   He will be performing at an exclusive MOJO Honours List show at the 100 Club in London on 19th July.