Humour and solemnity run through John Grant’s songs like ripples through water. The American songwriter (and a citizen of Iceland since 2022) isn’t one to hold back on his personal life, having addressed and explored, among other topics, his sexuality, drug and alcohol addictions, severe anxiety and HIV-positive diagnosis. The bleak confessional aspects of Grant’s work appeal to the respectful and cautious voyeurs in our midst, while his levels of eclectic creativity tend to scrape the sky for inspiration. His sixth solo album is no different, blending various musical flavours with two notable themes: the associations between childhood trauma and adult behaviour, and the political malaise of the contemporary United States.
The album title joins the dots, says Grant, in the way misinformation distorts thought and nurtures suspicion. He is especially caustic towards the US Republican Party (“Any sort of pretence of tolerance that may have seemed to develop over the past several decades has all but vanished”) yet is equally expressive on aspects of parenthood. Regarding the latter issue, three linked songs (Father, Mother and Son, Daddy) act as stepping stones to understanding what Grant wants the listener to know. “I feel ashamed because I couldn’t be the man you always hoped I would become,” he sings on the electro-pop ballad Father. Mother and Son, another sumptuous ballad, addresses feelings of guilt and humiliation. As with all of Grant’s work, musical ideas that are idiosyncratic and rooted in tradition keep overfamiliarity at bay.
Other tracks mix it up, however. All that School for Nothing and It’s a Bitch are funk tunes; Meek AF has a tough groove with a mid-song rap that further energises the song, The Child Catcher is a spooky, slow-motion slice of ambient pop; while the third parenthood song, Daddy, is a sombre walk through the past (“Would you hurt me? You don’t like what I am…”) fortified with synthesiser swirls. With such political/personal expression, one might think The Art of the Lie doth protest and reveal too much, but Grant laces the passion with sensitivity and warmth, delivering his best album since his 2010 debut.
