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Jul 10, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Photography by Shawn Brackbill John Grant

John Grant has announced a new album, Love Is Magic, and shared its six-and-a-half-minute long title track. Love Is Magic is due out October 12 via Partisan in the U.S. (and Bella Union in the U.K.). Check out the “Love Is Magic” lyric video below, followed by a trailer for the album and the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as Grant’s upcoming tour dates.

Love Is Magic is the follow-up to 2015’s Grey Tickles, Black Pressure. Grant produced the album with analogue synth expert/collector Benge and Paul Alexander of Texas band Midlake. It was mainly recorded at Benge’s MemeTune Studios in Cornwall, England.

A press release says the album “is a turbulent, riveting, often brutal collection that overlaps pitch black humor, fear, anxiety, and anger” and that “the instrumentation consists almost entirely of synthesizers and programming.”

Grant had this to say about the album in the press release: “The lyrics aren’t just the doom and gloom of the past. They’re a snapshot of everyday life - the ridiculousness, the pain, the deep longing…. Each record I make is more of an amalgamation of who I am. The more I do this, the more I trust myself, and the closer I get to making what I imagine in my head.”

Grant also had this to say about the album’s title: “Love’s a shitshow that requires work. It’s not all lollipops and rainbows and ‘67 Dodge Dart Hemis and STD’s and macaroni and cheese and John Carpenter. But nothing can distract from the fact that, in spite of it all, love is still magic.”

Also be sure to read our in-depth 2013 article on Grant, one of the most honest and personal interviews we’ve ever done.

Also read our 2015 interview with John Grant on Grey Tickles, Black Pressure.

Love Is Magic Tracklist:

1. Metamorphosis
2. Love Is Magic
3. Tempest
4. Preppy Boy
5. Smug Cunt
6. He’s Got His Mother’s Hips
7. Diet Gum
8. Is He Strange?
9. The Common Snipe
10. Touch and Go

John Grant Tour Dates:

08/16/2018 - Birmingham, UK - Symphony Hall
08/18/2018 - Wales, UK - Green Man Festival
08/19/2018 - Belfast, UK - Open House Festival
08/20/2018 - Edinburgh, UK - Edinburgh International Festival
10/26/2018 - Reykjavik, IS - Silfurberg
10/29/2018 - Brighton, UK - Brighton Dome
10/30/2018 - London, UK - O2 Academy Brixton
10/31/2018 - Bath, UK - The Forum
11/02/2018 - Sheffield, UK - Octagon Centre
11/03/2018 - Manchester, UK - Albert Hall, Manchester **SOLD OUT**
11/07/2018 - Copenhagen, DK - Vega
11/08/2018 - Oslo, NO - Sentrum Scene
11/09/2018 - Wangels, DE - Rolling Stone Weekender
11/10/2018 - Wangels, DE - Rolling Stone Weekender
11/12/2018 - Koln, DE - Kulturkirche
11/13/2018 - Hamburg, DE - Kampnagel
11/14/2018 - Berlin, DE - Astra Kulturhaus
11/16/2018 - Rust, DE - Rolling Stone Park
11/17/2018 - Rust, DE - Rolling Stone Park

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