Song of the Day: John Grant - Disappointing

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Disappointing” by John Grant from the 2015 album Grey Tickles, Black Pressure on Partisan Records.

John Grant - Disappointing (MP3)

Although he first emerged as the lead singer of the Denver-based shoegaze/alternative country group The Czars, John Grant’s career turned a new corner at the beginning of the 2010s as he began an unexpected second chapter as a multi-genre songwriter who paints his intimate disclosures with a sliver of snark. After The Czars' breakup in 2004, Grant took some time away from the music business, but gradually returned to his musical pursuits, and released his solo debut, Queen of Denmark, in 2010. The album was warmly received, especially in the U.K., and brought Grant perhaps the most critical attention of his career. Queen of Denmark's followup, 2013's Pale Green Ghosts, featured Grant moving into a more electronic direction than its predecessor, likely in part due to Grant's collaborations with disco mavens Hercules & Love Affair, and on his third solo album, this year's Grey Tickles, Black Pressure, he continued moving away from his acoustic work and towards the dancefloor. "Disappointing" is easily Grant's funkiest solo track to date, lacing its analog bounce with a vocal assist from Bedsit Disco Queen Tracey Thorn and Grant's eleocutionary lyrics. Grant lists off the things he adores in the verses (ranging from his favorite meals to his favorite SNL cast members) with a suave, chic delivery, forming a clever call-and-response to Thorn's deep, resonant croon. Highly quoteable and infectiously funky, "Disappointing" shows that Grant can take an idea as simple as a dancefloor love song and inject it with a sense of humor and charm that's equal parts head and heartstrings.

John Grant is making a West Coast run later this month, although the closest he comes to Seattle is when he plays the Doug Fir in Portland on October 30th, before he heads back to his adopted home in Reykjavik for Iceland Airwaves. Keep up with John at his website and Facebook page, and watch the official video for "Disappointing" below.