Create a Free Account with The Current
  • Like and save music to a playlist
  • Get recommendations for new music you'll love
  • Save stories, podcasts, and more for later
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one number and one symbol
Already have an account?
Please Log In
Forgot Password?
Don't have an account?
Need to confirm an account?

Reset Password

Check your email for the confirmation code

The Current

Great Music Lives Here ®
Listener-Supported Music
Donate Now
  • The Current
    Great Music
    Lives Here.
    Listener-Supported Music
    Donate Now
Donate Now
Volume Button
Volume
00:00
0
listen
[0]
The Current
PlaylistSchedule
Donate
Live From The Current's Studio and Events

John Grant makes music, dreams of a house on Lake Superior

  Play Now [23:37]

Like this?

Log in to share your opinion with The Current and add it to your profile.

Like this?

Thanks for liking this song! We have added it to a personal playlist for you.

by Mac Wilson and John Grant

October 22, 2015

John Grant - Global Warming (Live on 89.3 The Current)
by MPR
John Grant - Down Here (Live on 89.3 The Current)
by MPR
John Grant - Grey Tickles, Black Pressure (Live on 89.3 The Current)
by MPR
John Grant - 1
John Grant performs in The Current studio.
MPR photo/Leah Garaas

John Grant's latest album, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure sits at No. 5 on the U.K. charts, just a few hundred copies behind electronica group Faithless's No. 1 entry, Faithless 2.0. That said, Grant doesn't care too much about charts. "I don't want to know anything about all that," Grant says. "All I want to know is: When can I have my house on Lake Superior?"

Although he lives in Reykjavik, Iceland, Grant suggests a return to the Midwest is an aspiration. "I'm a Michigan boy, and I love the Midwest," he says. "I love Minnesota, for example, these places where the weather is more extreme in the winter, where it gets really cold and you have these amazing icicles, and where you have a really beautiful autumn with the trees changing and everything."

Grant is seeing a hearty helping of autumn leaves as he and his bandmates visit the Twin Cities for a show at the Cedar Cultural Center on Thursday, Oct. 22. Earlier in the day, Grant, along with keyboardist Chris Pemberton and guitarist Pétur Hallgrímsson, stopped at The Current for an in-studio session hosted by Mac Wilson.

The name of Grant's album, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure is cryptic at first, but Grant explains the name is a literal translation of two idiomatic phrases from Icelandic and Turkish, respectively. "… 'Grey tickles' is the phrase for 'midlife crisis' in Icelandic," he says. "'Black pressure' is a direct translation from the Turkish, and that means nightmare: so 'midlife crisis nightmare'."

Although the album contains dark themes, influenced by the Icelandic winter, Grant recorded it in Texas, which provided an interesting contrast in the entire experience. "It was so awesome to go to Dallas, because I really love Texas." Grant says. "I ended up doing two of my three albums there. It was a fantastic experience. It was dark because of the album itself — the subject matter — but it was also a time of great levity and light-heartedness."

Listen to the complete interview to hear more from John Grant, including how he got hand-picked by Elton John to record a track for the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road reissue, and how he met and was able to collaborate with a musician he's long admired, Tracey Thorn of Everything But The Girl.

Songs Performed


"Global Warming"
"Down Here"
"Grey Tickles, Black Pressure"

All songs from John Grant's 2015 album, Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, available on Partisan Records (U.S.) and Bella Union Records (U.K.).

Hosted by Mac Wilson
Produced by Lindsay Kimball
Engineered by Corey Schreppel and Dan Mariska
Web feature by Luke Taylor

Gallery
6 of 6
John Grant - 7
John Grant performs in The Current studio.
MPR photo/Leah Garaas
1 of 6
John Grant - 2
John Grant performs in The Current studio.
MPR photo/Leah Garaas
2 of 6
John Grant - 3
Chris Pemberton and Petur Hallgrimsson perform with John Grant in The Current studio.
MPR photo/Leah Garaas

Related

  • 'Greatest Living Creature' John Grant performs live in The Current studios
  • John Grant - official site