Whelan’s, Dublin
A FEW years ago, John Grant tracked down a childhood sweetshop called Marz.
It was still in business, with the malts and shakes still being made by the same woman who served him all those years ago. Down to the basement she went, re-emerging with a gift – the restaurant's menu from the 1940s or 1950s. The result of this encounter, a little gateway to childhood and innocence, is I Wanna Go to Marz.
This is the kind of tender, gentle story that John Grant crafts into desperately compelling music – and then there is the other side, the music that taps into years of drug and alcohol addiction and his deep reserves of depression.
Tonight is the last night of Grant’s current tour and he is joined by Casey Chandler. Arrangments are spare creations, stripped down piano lines that sound derivative in places, with synthy strings and occasional guitar. But then there is that voice, and Grant’s lyrics. They are tortured and raw, open and honest, bringing the songs to the point of purity – audience members wince at the thought of where they’ve come from.
On You Are Where Dreams Go to Die: "I regret the day your lovely carcass caught my eye." This isn't critical – this is eviscerating. But its sung in a copper beaten baritone that rolls in quality waves, and it comes out with such class above simplistic- seeming lines of melody, that it's hard not to smile wryly and be impressed.
When he introduces Outer Space, Grant admits: "This is hard for me to play because I'm not used to singing songs about happiness and all that." If the honesty is brutal, the wit is bright as silver, and there isn't an ounce of bloated self pity.
Grant's story is harrowing, but there is redemption and hopefully some peace in the coda. After moving to New York following the breakup of The Czars, he found himself playing support to Midlake, who seem to have been determined to save Grant from himself. In the downtime of recording their own album, The Courage of Others, they cut Grant's current solo record, Queen of Denmark.It's hard to imagine he will remain a cult figure for much longer. Here's hoping his time has finally come.
