Somewhere in the last decade, singer/songwriter John Grant established himself as one of the great musical chroniclers of the American Dream, angled mostly from its flipside. What if everything you were promised, if you worked hard, loved hard, played and prayed hard, it all turned to ash? Grant lays it all out for careful cross-examination in his most autobiographical work to date. In a decade of making records by himself, he has playfully experimented with mood, texture and sound. At one end of his musical rainbow, he is the battle-scarred piano-man, at the other, a robust electronic auteur. 

With dry wit and unflinching honesty, Grant transforms his perspective as a gay man and his struggles with addiction and relationships into music that spans tender ballads and scathing rants. While his literate songwriting and resonant vocals remain constants of his music, his sound evolved over time. His 2010 debut, Queen of Denmark -- which featured contributions from his close friends in the band Midlake -- built on the lush sound of his former band, the alt country-meets-dream pop act the Czars. Later, Grant incorporated more of his enduring love for synth pop and industrial music on albums including 2015's Grey Tickles, Black Pressure and 2021's Boy from Michigan. On every album, his ability to switch from ironic to heartfelt, and from suave to blunt at a moment's notice makes Grant a one-of-a-kind artist.