John Grant

John Grant conceived of 2024’s The Art of The Lie in the Autumn of 2022. Earlier that year, John met Ivor Guest, producer and composer at Grace Jones’ Southbank show, the finale of her Meltdown Festival. There, they began talking about two records Guest had worked on, Hurricane for Jones, Prohibition for Brigitte Fontaine. “Grace and Brigitte are two very big artists for me,” says Grant. “I love the albums he did for them. Hurricane is an indispensable piece of Grace’s catalogue.” Then, an idea was sparked. “I said, I really think you should do this next record with me. He said, I think you’re right.” 

The result is John Grant’s most opulent, cinematic, luxurious album yet: The Art of The Lie. As the title suggests, the lyrical ingenuity under all this musical largesse is as dark as its production is epic. Here, Guest and his cast of storied musicians have brought the drama, flecks of intrigue as beguiling as Laurie Anderson or The Art of Noise. Then, Grant anchors it in deeply felt humanity and pitch-black realism. “The clothing that it’s dressed up in makes it more palatable,” he says. “It helps the bitter pill go down. Music and humor are how I’ve always dealt with the dark side of life.”

Grant likens the musical flavors of The Art of the Lie to the sumptuous Vangelis soundtrack for Bladerunner. Also, the Carpenters if John Carpenter were also a member. This is undeniably a John Grant record, nestling humor into tragedy, bleeding anger into compassion. There is a musical ambition and nerve to The Art of the Lie which offsets its most political and personal moments.