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Album Review: John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
Other | Tuesday 12th March 2013 | Charles
An very good album that has to follow a near masterpiece
First and foremost Pale Green Ghosts is a really good album. Seriously. It’s just the thing is that it’s not as flawless as its predecessor Queen of Denmark, and that’s not because of its weird new electronic direction, in fact that’s one of my favourite things about the record.
If you didn’t know John Grant is the American former frontman of the Czars, a not very well remembered noughties band, who’se now struck out on his own with the help of Midlake. Issues like his homosexuality, depression, drug addiction and now, sadly, his HIV permeates his songs but that never drags down the mood to far. In fact I’d likely classify him as the world’s best dark humour songwriter.
All the great tropes from his critically acclaimed debut Queen of Denmark return but everything’s a little less perfect. The songs are a little longer, the songs a less funny, the lyrics less striking but thankfully the new added electronics work wonders for preventing the sound feeling tired especially when the go in full force like openers ‘Pale Green Ghosts’ and ‘Black Belt’ or the LCD tinged ‘Sensitive New Age Guy’. That said it’s still more heartfelt, brilliant and beautiful than 99% of records released since Queen of Denmark and it cements John Grant as perhaps one of the modern worlds best solo artists.
Charles Pegg
