Playlist: John Grant, Moondoggies, Diane Birch & more

John Grant

What has been happening in our country that we all seem to have missed the boat on John Grant, who released the stunning Queen Of Denmark in March? Well, his boat left for England, where he’s been awarded top honors on Mojo’s year-end list. (Luckily, he’ll tour stateside in December before a long stint in the UK next year.) For Queen Of Denmark (Bella Union), Grant teamed up with fellow Texans, Midlake, and the result is somewhere in between The Courage Of Others’ obscure ‘60s Brit-folk influence and Antony Hegarty’s ethereal weirdness. The album is full of hooks and careful arrangements, but Grant’s voice and lyrics are what really stand out. On songs like “Sigourney Weaver” and “Jesus Hates Faggots,” Grant takes ideas that could seem puerile in lesser hands and tells strange and touching stories. There’s anger on Queen too, with Grant airing grievances with ex-lovers, family, and society. Lyrically, he can be conversational and whacky (“mongoose baby” and “wonderbread bomb” are just two of the choice images from the song “Chicken Bones”), but he never misplaces a word. Just when he lays down one of his most crude expletives, he counters it with a lyrical gem. And he packages all his dark musings in a sweet and graceful baritone. But that sweetness only slightly lessens the blow of Queen Of Denmark.

The Moondoggies

The Moondoggies’ Tidelands (Hardly Art/Sub Pop), which came out in October, is full of Laurel Canyon harmonies and Crazy Horse guitars. While the band is heavily inspired by vintage Neil Young, they are equally capable of coming up with great songs as they continue to develop their own voice. It would have been nice to hear The Moondoggies go a bit more into their own – say, the way fellow Seattle/Sub Pop band The Fleet Foxes have drawn on American ‘60s pastoral and psychedelic, British folk, and other styles for their distinctive sound – but Tidelands is endlessly enjoyable for fans of ’70s rock.

Diane Birch and The Phenomenal Handclap Band

The most impressive thing about The Velveteen Age (S-Curve Records) – Diane Birch’s reinterpretations of songs by ‘80s groups like Siouxsie & The Banshees, Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division, and The Cure – is the transformation of gloomy ‘80s post-punk into bona fide soul numbers. On album opener “This Corrosion,” Birch reaches for Amy Winehouse, but comes up sounding a little more 4 Non Blondes. The Phenomenal Handclap Band play the Dap Kings to Birch’s Winehouse, though, and their production work here is truly remarkable. Never overly retro-gazing, PHB supply expansive, inventive, and contemporary arrangements that go nowhere near the originals. With hooks like Echo’s “Bring On The Dancing Horses,” Birch will win you over in the end, if she hadn’t by the album’s first note.

Young Man

Colin Caulfield’s recordings have a charming, lo-fi aesthetic, and on “Strangers” (Frenchkiss Records) – an outtake from his 2010 EP, Boy, now being released as a single – he crams a lot of ideas into one song. It starts out like an Apple Garageband-version of The Beach Boys, with a classical guitar and echoing falsetto voices. Caulfield has a knack for both solid songwriting and interesting arrangements. “Strangers” builds from it’s Beatles-y verse to an African highlife guitar riff and ultimately it’s catchy chorus – lines anyone should relate to: “Every time I go out/ My mom stays there and shouts/ ‘Don’t talk to strangers while you’re gone.’ ”