On his third solo studio album, John Grant continues to confront his demons with wisdom and wit.
By adopting a determinedly ironic tone, he shows a readiness to laugh rather than cry about his troubles; "I wanted to get moodier and angrier on this record but I had a lot more fun making it", he says.
His mood may have been elevated somewhat by being recorded in sunny Dallas, a long way from his adopted Reykjavik home where he had just spent a dark Winter.
The support of musical friends probably helped too. The record features guest contributions from EBTG's Tracey Thorn (on Disappointed), Dresden Doll Amanda Palmer and former Banshees drummer Budgie.
The album title reflects Grant's love of languages and word play. Grey Tickles is the literal translation for the Icelandic for mid-life crisis, while Black Pressure derives from the Turkish word for 'nightmare'.
The twelve songs are bookended by a spoken word Intro and Outro (the latter using a child's voice). These short tracks are built around biblical quotes about the divinity of love although Grant is all too aware that there is a darker side to the idealistic notion that love protects and perseveres.
As an HIV positive gay man, themes of self doubt and death loom large but are made less oppressive by adopting a domesticated and a more pop-orientated perspective.
There are some earnest orchestral arrangements, including the title track, but, more prominent still are the fat bass lines which give many songs a squelchy, even sleazy, disco feel.
The juxtaposition of smart lyrics with these funky rhythms serves to highlight Grant's dry humour and softens the more serious or bitter subtexts. For instance, it takes the sinister edge off the image of giving chicken soup to a Voodoo Doll and means that he can deadpan barbed lines like "You ought to learn to knit and wear matching sweaters" (You & Him).
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Grant accepts that greater life problems like children with cancer or climate change exist in the world, but this does not make his day to day preoccupations any less onerous. On Global Warming, with tongue firmly in cheek, he appears more worried about the sun’s affect on his complexion than about the wider environmental implications.
As usual, Grant croons like Scott Walker of old although, given the slightly camp delivery and bittersweet observations, The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon is probably a better reference point.
Weighty topics like overcoming shame (Magma Arrives) and confronting metaphorical storms (Black Blizzard) are so deftly handled that it is the lightness, rather than the heaviness, of these issues that shines through.
On one of the album's best songs, No More Tangles, there's a sense of his needing more strength and substance with less dependence on superficiality. Lines like "no more tears, no more reindeer games with narcissistic queers" suggest a man who is eager to put his past behind him and enjoy the now.
John Grant's website
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