JOHN GRANT

Love Is Magic BELLA UNION 7/10 Venomous barbs and vintage synth suites, as Grant nears his ’80s ideal

The video game laser blasts which conclude “Tempest” were the sound of salvation for the teenage Grant, as he sought refuge from homophobic Midwest conformity in mall arcades. Love Is Magic immerses him in such ur-’80s sounds, especially the decadent English synthpop which he heard as a distant utopia. The synth reveries outstay their welcome, but the sense is of a great talent whose early solo work vented a lifetime’s pain and outrage now experimenting and recalibrating, as he adjusts to relative contentment – see the ex-partner described with the with glam-rock prettiness in “Is He Strange”.