John Grant has never been one of my favourite artists. He's got some brilliant songs but also a lot of filler, and I find his style a little too earnest for my tastes. But this...this was a gig for the ages. Collaborations with orchestras almost inevitably fail to live up to expectations, but the Northern Sinfonia absolutely nailed it, transforming Grant's arch, deeply personal synth-pop into gloriously rich, ostentatious epics worthy of a Bond film. True, sometimes not even their luscious orchestrations could elevate some of his more humdrum output, but the renditions of "Queen of Denmark", "Glacier" and "Pale Green Ghosts" were serious contenders for my musical highlight of the year.
No comments:
Post a Comment