MOJO – just about the world's best music mag – just recently crowned John Grant's debut ‘Queen Of Denmark’ Album of the Year 2010. Rightly so, as this album from the ...

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MOJO – just about the world's best music mag – just recently crowned John Grant's debut ‘Queen Of Denmark’ Album of the Year 2010. Rightly so, as this album from the frontman of insufficiently appreciated country-pop band The Czars contains pain, hope, fear, regret and anger or: a series of raw emotions packaged in magical melodies. ‘I basically gave up’ said Grant after the umpteenth disappointment with The Czars and he moved to New York to go study. An opportune solo concert brought him in contact with Midlake and this band promptly invited Grant to their studio in Denton, Texas. There they recorded ‘Queen Of Denmark’ in 2 four-month periods. Grant's songs were embellished with simple piano arrangements, the flute of Midlake frontman Tim Smith and breathtaking strings. Following his visit to Boomtown this summer, De Morgen wrote: ‘… you can hear John Lennon and Rufus Wainwright in his melancholy, emotionally explicit piano ballads’. New date with John Grant in the ABClub on 2 April.

Alessi’s Ark second album, entitled ‘Time Travel’, will be released in April and contains songs with the tried-and-true mixture of intimate timeless folk-pop. Alessi Laurent-Marke (as she is known in full)'s debut was released by EMI when she was only 17 and even then she managed to get hold of a few members of Bright Eyes entourage to help her along in the studio. Afterwards she toured with performers like Laura Marling and Mumford & Sons and, after being dropped by EMI, she was picked up by the tasty Bella Union label. Alessi’s Ark will provide the support act to John Grant for both the afternoon and the evening show.