Performer Notes

Although co-founded by John Grant and Chris Pearson, the Czars were always Grant's band, with most of the group's acclaim stemming from his deep, resonant vocals and songwriting. The frontman reportedly butted heads with his four bandmates, but such creative tension helped mold the Czars into an eclectic group, and Grant's voice -- despite being the cornerstone of every Czars album -- wouldn't have shined as brightly without the dreamy, shoegazing music that flanked it. Queen of Denmark, his first release without the Czars, finds him working alongside Midlake instead, resulting in another collaborative album that takes its cues from '70s soft rock and quirky Americana. ~ Andrew Leahey

Professional Reviews

Mojo (Publisher) (p.90) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] work of transcendent wonder....The second half of the album finds Grant confronting romantic loss with astonishing depth of feeling."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.61) - Ranked #1 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2010" -- "[A]n intensely bittersweet pop record..."

Uncut (magazine) (p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[Grant is] a painfully honest writer, able to render discomfiture in songs with the sweetness of nursery rhymes."

Uncut (magazine) (p.37) - Ranked #7 in Uncut's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2010" -- "Grant's tortured confessions of lost love and addiction came wrapped in the year's most consummate soft-rock."