Michigan-born, now Reykjavik-based, US singer-songwriter John Grant creates music that can be agonisingly sad, painfully funny – or often both, but never less than breathtaking in its emotional complexity. He has set two decades of his own personal dramas – fuelled by drink, drugs and sex – to music, in moving dance beats, warm acoustics and lush harmonies to support his sly, witty lyrics.

Once a member of alternative rock band The Czars, Grant has been a solo artist since 2006. He has collaborated with Tracy Thorn, Amanda Palmer and Elbow, performed in a celebration of Scott Walker at the BBC Proms, and toured the UK to enormous acclaim with the Royal Northern Sinfonia. With his rich, creamy baritone, and his savagely barbed humour, he is one of the most provocative and original songwriters in today’s pop, creating songs to make you laugh, gasp, think, perhaps even shed a tear.

As part of his UK tour, he brings his captivating music and playful verbal erudition to a very special International Festival concert at Edinburgh’s Playhouse.

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