NEW ALBUMS
JOHN GRANT
Boy From Michigan BELLA UNION 8/10
The state of him: ex-Czar turned auteur takes on toxic masculinity.
By Jim Wirth
HÖRÐUR SVEINSSON
WHEN he remembers the smell of melting snow back in Buchanan, Michigan (population: 4,456), John Grant sometimes yearns to move back to the town where he spent his earliest years. However, as he fretted over the US elections during the recording of his Vangelis-meets-Harry Nilsson fifth solo album, Grant was reminded just why he remains in self-imposed exile in Iceland.
“There’s so much rage there,” the 52-year-old tells Uncut of his home country. “It’s always been that way. That’s what happens when you start your country the way ours started and then throw down a tarp and build a bunch of shopping malls on top.”
Since making his solo debut with 2010’s Queen Of Denmark, Grant has held little back in his songs; the substance abuse, the HIV diagnosis, the catastrophic relationships. However, he heralded the advent of Boy From Michigan in January with something a little different. “The Only Baby” is a glowering, Crass-via-