Boy from Michigan

John Grant’s continued growth and maturation as an artist has been one of the more fascinating stories of the 21st century, and getting Cate Le Bon to produce his sixth solo album. Put very simply, they use the sounds of the eighties – electropop and new wave – to soundtrack stories of growing up strange, queer and isolated in the religious Midwest in that time period. You can hear very specific references in some places: to Depeche Mode in “The Rusty Bull” and “Dandy Star,” to Yello, Sparks and Devo in the deranged “Rhetorical Figure”. Elsewhere there are subtler glimmers of Pet Shop Boys, Eurythmics, David Sylvian, Phil Collins, Hall & Oates and “quiet storm” soul, creating a general sonic palette a little like what Dev “Blood Orange” Hynes and Jessie Ware explored in the 2010s. It’s an unendingly sad, theatrical, fascinating record, up there with Grant’s best and most exploratory – which is even more impressive considering he was into his 50s when he and Le Bon made it.